


A Different Approach

by ShawnaCanon



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Adrien-centric, Akumatized Adrien Agreste, Awkwardness, Bad Flirting, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Modeling, Oblivious Adrien Agreste, Original Akuma, Original Akumatized Characters, POV Adrien Agreste, Reveal, accidental reveal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-19
Updated: 2018-05-19
Packaged: 2019-04-25 03:51:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 31
Words: 60,624
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14370303
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShawnaCanon/pseuds/ShawnaCanon
Summary: Adrien finds out Ladybug's true identity. Since Cat Noir has been thoroughly friend-zoned, he figures maybe he can woo her as Adrien. But that means doing it without his mask. And that's scarier than any supervillain Hawk Moth could throw at him.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I just discovered and then binge-watched this series on Netflix, and it's my new obsession. So this story is based on the English version as of episode 2.12 (all the ones currently on Netflix). I base my writing entirely on the show itself, not fanon, theories, or information from the show's creators from interviews or anything like that. Just so you know.
> 
> This fic is now complete. (I'd meant to post it over a longer period of time, but decided to go ahead and put it all up.) If you'd like to download a proper e-book file with a cover and everything, you can download one at my website: https://www.shawnacanon.com/fanfic

 

A rush of red magic flowed around Cat Noir, and the world returned to normal. He let out a breath of relief. The akumatized supervillain had destroyed most of his school this time, which was _not_ something he liked to see. He and Ladybug had gotten most of his friends and teachers to safety before it had happened, but there were a few left unaccounted for, and he was afraid of what could have happened to them. With all the exploding walls and falling rubble that had been flying around . . .

But everything was fine now. Ladybug’s magic had put everything to right.

He shared a celebratory fist-bump with his partner, and his ring beeped. A moment later, her earrings did the same.

“Better go,” she said, still beaming with victory.

“Miss you already, Milady,” he shot back, getting half an eyeroll in response. She’d made it clear she was only interested in him as a friend, but Cat Noir was not so easily dissuaded. He’d wear her down eventually.

Before they could both bound away, a child’s cry caught their attention. The akuma victim was a little kid, and he was looking around, lost and scared and crying for his mom. Ladybug’s magic didn’t put the victims back where they’d been originally, which was usually not a problem, but they were usually a lot older. Cat Noir took a step toward the kid, but Ladybug held her out arm across his chest, stopping him.

“I can handle it,” she assured him.

“But your spots—”

“I’ve still got three minutes.” She pointed to his ring. “You’re on your last one.”

He looked down. She was right. With a small yelp of panic, he darted away, trusting that Ladybug would get the kid sorted before she transformed back.

Cat Noir ducked into the boys’ bathroom and slammed the door behind him, pressing his back against it to make sure no one followed him in. He barely had time to glance around and see that he was alone before the transformation swept over him and an exhausted Plagg plopped onto the floor.

The kwami’s green eyes blinked open. “A bathroom floor? Really? I guess I should be glad you didn’t transform in a stall and let me fall into the toilet.”

Adrien scooped him up in his hands. “Sorry, Plagg. You want me to, uh, give you a bath?”

Plagg’s cat eyes widened in horror, and he found the energy to lift himself into the air. “Don’t you dare! I can clean myself, thank you very much.”

Adrien shrugged and opened his outer shirt. “I’ll get you some food as soon as I can, but while I’m here, I actually do need to use the toilet. Turns out there are some down sides to a costume that’s stuck on with unbreakable magic.”

A couple minutes later, he stood in one of the stalls, having just zipped up his fly and about to flush, when he heard the bathroom door burst open and then slam closed. Before he could open the stall door to ask whoever it was if there was another attack happening—because it sure sounded like someone had just flown into the room as if fleeing for his life—a flash of light came from outside the stall, and he heard distinctly feminine panting.

“ _Phew_ ,” said what was definitely a girl’s voice. “That was close.”

His hand, already on the latch of the stall’s door, fell to his side. _Well, this is awkward._ For a second, he wondered what he should do. Given how out of breath the girl sounded and the fact that she’d run into the boys’ bathroom apparently without realizing it, it could mean there was danger, which he should find out about right away so he could get Plagg some food and go deal with it. But what if she was escaping some normal teen drama situation and the wrong bathroom thing was a simple mistake? If Adrien showed himself, the girl would be embarrassed, and he’d rather not embarrass her if he didn’t have to.

As he stood pondering this, he heard a second voice say, “It sure was.” Adrien frowned. That didn’t sound like any girl he knew. It didn’t sound like any girl his age at all. It sounded way too . . . small.

He heard a click, a rustle, then a sound like munching.

“Eat quick, Tikki,” said the girl. “I need to get back out there. I wasn’t able to find _any_ adult to get that poor kid home, and I told Alix I only needed her to watch the boy for a minute.”

_Ladybug?!_ Adrien almost shouted it in surprise, but he slammed his hand over his mouth and managed to keep the thought in his head. Curiosity flared inside him, and he looked through the crack in the stall between the door and the wall, shifting until he found the angle that gave him a view of the bathroom door and the girl standing in front of it. He could see hair that looked like Ladybug’s, and clothes that were definitely not Ladybug’s but vaguely familiar, but the girl’s face was hidden by a small, red thing floating in the air with its back to him, which seemed to be eating a cookie. A small, red thing that could only be a kwami.

_It is Ladybug!_ It took everything he had not to do a little dance of excitement. He may have still bopped up and down a bit without moving his feet, and he definitely grinned like a maniac. She was _right here_! As soon as her kwami moved, he’d see who she was!

Suddenly, he stood straight, losing his view through the crack. He shouldn’t be spying on Ladybug. This was his partner. She trusted him. She didn’t want him to know who she was, and he wanted to respect that—no matter how much he also wanted to know her real identity.

Adrien clenched his fists at his side, stiffened his back, and set his jaw. He’d resist the temptation. He had to. For Ladybug.

“Recharged, Tikki?” the girl asked after another few seconds.

“Yes, but . . .” The kwami’s voice sounded stronger now, but wary, and it trailed off.

The girl gasped.

Adrien grimaced. He didn’t have to peek to guess what was happening. Ladybug’s kwami had alerted her to the fact that one of the stall doors was closed and the bathroom wasn’t as empty as she’d thought.

He heard small, clumsy movements and frantic whispers of, “Oh, no! What should I do?” that the girl apparently thought were quiet enough that he wouldn’t hear, followed by a tiny, barely audible shushing sound. Then the girl laughed very loudly and very fakely. “Glad I could help, Tikki, my friend and fellow classmate who also goes to school here and is a human girl my age!”

Adrien facepalmed as quietly as he could. _Come on, Ladybug, get it together. You can do this!_ Why was she acting so weird? Ladybug was always so confident and collected. What was wrong with her now?

The door opened, the girl stomped loudly on the floor as if someone were leaving, and the door slammed shut again.

“Now I guess I’ll go to the bathroom while I’m here,” she said to the room at large.

Adrien inwardly groaned. _Just leave, Ladybug. Just turn and leave and I won’t see you!_

He almost said it out loud, but what if she recognized his voice? She’d know Cat Noir had maybe seen who she really was, and things might get weird between them. And would she even believe him that he _hadn’t_ seen, knowing as she did that he wanted to know her real identity?

Then, with the sneaky craftiness of a bull elephant, the girl who was Ladybug walked straight to his stall—which, he realized an instant too late, he’d already unlatched the lock of before he’d heard her first _Phew_ —and pushed it open.

The door smacked him in the arm and made him stumble. He lost his balance, fell backward with a cry, and landed on the toilet.

In the shock of the moment, he looked up into her eyes before he could stop himself. He gaped, stunned speechless.

It was Marinette. His brave, bold Ladybug was awkward, babbling Marinette.

“Adrien?” she squeaked, her hands flying up to cover her mouth even as a blush painted her whole face, the effect looking a lot like a red mask. “I’m so sorry! I didn’t—” She looked around. “What are you doing in the—”

“ _Boys’_ bathroom?” he finished, standing.

Her eyes widened in humiliation. She glanced down, then covered her eyes before she could register that his clothes were all where they should be, and stepped back. Then stumbled, of course, because it was Marinette, and Adrien had to dive to catch her before she hit the floor and gave herself a concussion.

For a brief second, he held her in his arms like they were dancing, and he had the urge to say something flirty and outrageous. But he couldn’t do that. He wasn’t Cat Noir; he was Adrien. So all he could manage was to let a blush bloom across his own face, help her find her footing, and step back.

“I’m so sorry, Adrien!” she squeaked. “I was in a hurry and I—needed a—door—to, um, bath in and—now I have to—” She turned to run, but he grabbed her hand, jerking them both almost off their feet, but he held on. She didn’t try to pull away, instead staring at their joined hands with what looked a lot like terror.

“Marinette, wait. I need to . . .” He rubbed the back of his head. He felt awful. He hadn’t wanted her to feel embarrassed about her mistake when she was only some girl he didn’t know. He wanted it even less knowing it was his friend Marinette. And he _hated_ seeing Ladybug in such distress. “It’s okay. It’s fine. I won’t tell anyone.”

Her gaze shot to his, and he realized with a start that what he’d said could mean two different things.

“I’ve made mistakes, too,” he clarified. “I won’t tell anyone about this, so you don’t need to be embarrassed. It’s just me.”

“Heh heh. Yeah. _Just_ you,” she said with a stiff, painful smile.

_I should let go of her hand._ The thought crossed his mind, but the message wasn’t communicated down his arm. He’d held Ladybug’s hand before, but never without their gloves. Her bare skin felt nice against his.

But from the panic in her face, it didn’t look like she was enjoying it very much. And if she knew he was Cat Noir, taking advantage of this panicked out-of-costume moment, she’d kick his tail half-way across Paris.

He could let her go, but then she wouldn’t know what he knew or didn’t know, and that would bother her. “Don’t run off. Wait a second,” he said, dropping her hand.

She turned like she was about to run off. “Can’t. I need to—”

“The little boy. I know.”

She stopped and faced him, and the naked fear in her eyes made him ache to hug her and tell her everything was fine. “What little boy?” she asked in a tight breath.

“Why did you open the one stall door that was closed?” he asked gently. He didn’t make her answer, continuing before she could. “Was it to see who was in there? To see what they’d heard? And . . . seen?”

She laughed manically and made an overly casual hand gesture. “What? _Pfft!_ No. It was just, uh, me being stupid Marinette! You know how I am! Why, what did you hear?”

“Everything.”

“And,” she said, all the false confidence gone, “see?”

“Your little red floating friend.”

“Oh! You mean—my cat! That’s my cat! It’s a special breed!”

Adrien was pretty sure he heard Plagg make a sound of indignation from inside his pocket. “Who is also a human girl your age?”

Marinette slapped her hand over her face. “It was nothing! Please, Adrien, just—you didn’t see anything, okay? Forget whatever you saw!”

“Marinette, I can’t!” He needed her to know her secret was safe with him. “But I won’t tell anyone! I promise!” He had more he wanted to say, but she didn’t let him finish.

She made a face that looked like a cross between a cringe and a smile, and ran out of the bathroom.


	2. Chapter 2

After the supervillain attack, school was canceled for the rest of the day, but he still had fencing and Chinese, so Adrien didn’t see Marinette—or Ladybug—all afternoon. But all those hours had given him enough time to start doubting himself. The two girls were so different, how could they really be the same person? Had he really seen what he’d seen?

But when he’d told her about seeing her kwami, she’d given him the least believable excuse he’d ever heard. So, yeah, he must have really seen that.

Which begged the question: how could he love a girl and not recognize her when he saw her nearly every day? When she was _right there_ , behind him in class, every day? When they hung out with their friends together? How had he never seen it?

And why had she never seen him?

Granted, he looked a bit more different in costume than she did. And she wasn’t in love with him. What was his excuse?

As soon as he got home, he left again, leaping across rooftops in search of his partner. His plan was to go to her home, transform outside the bakery, walk through the front door as Adrien, and ask if Marinette was home. But as he got closer, he saw a lean red figure crouched in the shadows on top of a roof across from the bakery, and he came up short.

She was expecting him, watching for him to come. And deliberately wasn’t in her room.

She didn’t want to see him.

He deflated at the thought. Then perked up. She didn’t want to see Adrien. That didn’t mean she didn’t want to see Cat Noir.

He landed in a crouch on the roof right beside her, facing toward her house with her. “Hey, LB. What’s the buzz?”

“Oh! Cat Noir! Hi!”

He frowned at her. She was still jumpy. And it was his fault. He nodded toward the bakery. “Hungry? I could scratch us up a treat.”

“What? No, I”—she shook her head—“I was just thinking. There’s something I need to tell you.”

“That sounds serious.” He gasped. “Oh, no. You’re pregnant.” He grabbed her shoulders dramatically. “This is all my fault! I should never have flirted with you so much!” He tapped his chin. “That _is_ how pregnancy works, right?” After he’d blurted all that out, he imagined himself as Adrien saying it to Marinette and panicked a little inside at the thought. He almost started to blush, so he pushed the thought away forcefully. Cat Noir and Ladybug didn’t blush at each other. Cat Noir and Ladybug teased and laughed and had fun.

But Ladybug didn’t crack a smile. Didn’t even take the opportunity to agree that he shouldn’t flirt so much. She only said, “This is serious, so stop joking. I . . . I screwed up. Bad.”

“Ladybug, don’t worry. It can’t be that bad.”

“It is. I need to tell you, but”—she looked down at the street to see several people staring up at them, some taking pics with their phones—“not here.” Then off she went, and Cat Noir followed.

They ended up on the top of a ten-story office building. Night was falling, and the sky was painted with a gorgeous sunset, but Cat Noir couldn’t take his eyes off Ladybug. She was hugging herself, staring at her feet.

He came up next to her and bumped her shoulder with his. “So, what’s bugging you?”

She let out a tiny groan of annoyance.

_There. That’s better._

“After the battle with Toymaker earlier today, I wasn’t able to get the little boy to an adult who could take him home, and I spent too long looking. I asked a girl to watch him for a few minutes, then I ran to the closest door I found and barely got inside before I transformed back. Then Tikki was out, and I was talking to her, it took me forever to realize that _there was someone else in the room_.”

“Whoa. You mean someone saw you transform from Ladybug to your regular self?”

“Well, I—I’m not sure he saw that, but he definitely saw Tikki. And I don’t know if he’s really, really sure I’m Ladybug, but I know he _thinks_ so. He said he wouldn’t tell anyone, but”—she let out a frustrated howl—“everything is so messed up now!”

Cat Noir paced on the roof in front of her with a posture of great thought. He’d meant, before she’d run out on him, to ease her mind by telling her his own secret identity. But in the hours afterward, it had occurred to him that maybe the reason she’d insisted they shouldn’t know each other’s real identities was only partly because she was afraid of him finding out hers. Maybe a big part of it was that she didn’t want the burden of knowing his. It was a hard thing, keeping secrets. Maybe more so when they weren’t yours. He didn’t want to push that on her if she didn’t want it, so even though she’d unintentionally revealed herself to him, he decided to at least try to keep his own secret from her until she wanted to hear it.

“So this guy,” he said. “You know him?”

“Yeah. He’s in my class.”

“Do you trust him?”

“Yes, but . . .”

“But?”

“But it’s _complicated_!”

“Hmm.” He moved in front of her, bending over to look her in the eyes. “He wouldn’t happen to be that _boy_ you mentioned, would he?” By his teasing tone, he was sure she’d get which _mention_ he meant—the one on the candlelit rooftop, after she’d told Cat Noir she only saw him as a friend.

“No!”

Cat Noir jerked back like she’d slapped him. He’d expected her to deny it, but the way she’d recoiled like the very idea horrified her . . . That really stung. He’d thought Marinette was his friend, but that one word had him questioning every interaction they’d ever had.

“Well, all right,” he said, trying not to let his hurt show, “who is he, then?”

“No one you know,” she shot back.

“How can you be sure?”

“I’m sure.”

“Then why not tell me his name? Shouldn’t I know who knows my partner’s secret?”

Ladybug made a frustrated sound. “Fine. You’re right. His name’s A-Adrien Agreste.”

Cat Noir tapped his chin thoughtfully, like he was trying to place the name. “Isn’t he that guy on all those fashion ads?”

Ladybug winced like she was in physical pain. “Yes.”

“You go to school with a famous model?” he asked in awe, eyes wide. “That’s so cool! What’s he like?”

“Argh!” Ladybug groaned and pushed Cat Noir’s face away. “He’s—he’s—he’s just a boy, okay? He’s a normal boy, and now he knows—at least, I think he knows—I’m pretty sure, and—Cat Noir, what are we gonna do?”

He flexed his claws. “You want I should have a talk with him?”

“No!” She grabbed his hands in hers and forced them down. “Don’t you dare threaten him! It wasn’t his fault he knows! It was mine!”

Her instant protectiveness soothed his hurt a little. Maybe she did at least think of him as a friend, even if the thought of _liking_ him was repulsive to her. “Relax, Bugaboo. I’m sure your friend will be the very _model_ of discretion. You did say you trust him, right?”

“Yes . . .” She was actually wringing her hands now.

He sighed and laid a hand on her shoulder. “Ladybug, why don’t you talk to him? Maybe he doesn’t really know what he thinks he knows. If he only saw your kwami, he has no reason to think that means you’re Ladybug. It’s not like Superman or Wolverine have kwamis, so why should anyone know we do? You could . . . probably explain it away somehow. If you’re that worried about him knowing.”

She was really worked up over him finding out, and he hated seeing her in such distress. He felt like him finding out she was Marinette was a step forward in their relationship, but it didn’t look like she would see it the same way. Would she react like this to Alya or Nino finding out, or was there something about Adrien in particular that made her freak out at the thought of him knowing she was an awesome superhero? He wished he—Adrien—could use this opportunity to get to know her—Marinette—better. To maybe break through that awkwardness that overwhelmed her for some reason every time she tried to talk to him. To get to know that lively, brave girl he saw from a distance when she was talking to other people and close up when they both had their masks on. But if she didn’t want that, he wanted to offer her an out. So when she did talk to him—Adrien—whatever lie she came up with to explain away her kwami, he’d pretend to believe it.

“You think so?” There was such hope in her blue eyes that it made him ache inside.

“I’m _paw_ sitive.”


	3. Chapter 3

Adrien’s brain was a confusing jumble of thoughts and emotions, and it had been ever since yesterday. It had taken him hours to get to sleep, and his stomach was so full of nerves that he’d barely managed to eat any dinner or breakfast.

What should he do when he saw Marinette today, assuming she didn’t skip school to avoid him? It would be easiest to try to block the whole Ladybug thing from his mind and see her just as Marinette, his friend, and treat her like nothing had changed at all. But acting normal would be suspicious, since obviously any normal kid who found out one of his friends was a superhero would do something different. Wouldn’t he? What would non-superhero Adrien have done if he’d found out one of his friends was a superhero?

Sitting at his desk as the minutes ticked down to the start of class, Adrien put his elbows on the desktop and dropped his forehead into his hands. Non-superhero Adrien hadn’t _had_ any friends, aside from Chloe. He tried to imagine what Nino would do, but that didn’t help because _he wasn’t Nino_.

Speaking of Nino, his friend slid into the seat to his left. “What’s wrong, dude?”

Adrien’s head shot up. “Um, nothing, Nino. Everything’s totally normal.”

Nino started talking about some new game coming out, and Adrien was grateful for the distraction. He focused on the conversation with Nino, and for a couple minutes there, his mind wasn’t as tangled and frazzled as a ball of yarn after a cat’s gotten to it.

A few seconds before the start of class, Marinette and Alya walked in, and Adrien’s heart leapt into his throat. He gave Marinette what was probably a slightly-too-excited smile and raised his hand in a wave as she came around his desk to the aisle. She flushed and raised her schoolbag to cover her face, leaving it like that until she took her seat behind him.

He let out a tiny sigh. Things were weird. He didn’t like things being weird. Then again, things were weird between him and Marinette sometimes already, and at least this time he knew why. He considered turning around to say good morning to her, but he didn’t normally do that, and he needed to be as normal as possible—at least while there were other people around. It wouldn’t be good to draw attention to her in any ways that he wouldn’t have done before yesterday, in case anyone else started to wonder why.

So, okay. Normal. _Be normal_ _-_ _Adrien_ , he told himself. _Normal, boring, not-suddenly-in-love-with-his-friend-for-no-reason Adrien_.

Marinette avoided any conversation or eye contact with him until lunchtime, and he pretended not to notice.

When they were released for their lunch break, he strolled out of class and through the courtyard with Nino, making plans for the weekend, until Marinette stumbled out from behind one of the staircases and right into Adrien’s arms. His face got very hot very quick, and he was extremely glad that he only had feline attributes when he was in costume, because the cat would be out of the bag if he started purring right now. Catching a glimpse of a strangely smug-looking Alya, he gently helped Marinette stand on her own feet.

She clutched her bag to her chest and stared at his shoes.

 _Stop blushing. It’s Marinette. Not Ladybug. Stop that. Nino and Alya are watching. Be normal._ “You okay, Marinette?” he asked as if it were any other time she’d stumbled into him.

“You’re fine! I mean I’m cute! I mean _it’s_ fine!”

Despite his own fluttering heartbeat, he smiled. He wasn’t sure why she’d said it, but she _was_ kinda cute when she was like this, now that he thought of it.

She still wasn’t meeting his eyes, though. “Could you, um, see to—I mean, speak to—I mean, if you’re not busy—maybe we could find a place—to—word speak—”

He blinked in uncomfortable surprise. He’d expected this, but he wasn’t ready for it. “You want to talk to me?”

She nodded.

He glanced at Nino, who shrugged, and Alya, who had a weird smile on. Alya grabbed Nino’s arm. “Come on. I want to, uh, talk to you about something too. Let’s leave Adrien and Marinette to chat _in private_.”

“ _Oh_ ,” Nino said like he’d suddenly caught on to something. “Right. Later, buds.”

When their friends had left, they stood there in awkward silence for what seemed like a very long time. Adrien cleared his throat, but couldn’t think of anything to follow that up with.

For a second, Marinette’s bluebell eyes met his, and he saw determination flash through them. Then she walked away, and he followed her.

They went to the library, where she carefully inspected every nook and cranny for other people before returning to where he’d taken a seat at a study table.

“Is this about yesterday?” he asked. Might as well get it out there. “About . . . what I saw?”

Her eyes bulged, and she looked like she might panic again, but she stiffened and forced herself to sit down next to him. “Adrien—heh—see, I know what you think you saw, but the eyes, ya know, they’re . . . weird. And sometimes you think you see things, but they’re not things—the things you see you think—think you see, and—”

“So, I . . . didn’t see a little red floating thing that you were talking to?” He sounded as kind and innocent as he knew how to, to make this as easy on her as possible.

She gave him a wide-eyed, pained expression. “Well, no, you did. Obviously. Because if you thought you saw something and there wasn’t anything, you’d be crazy, right? And I’m not saying you’re crazy! But it was, um . . . It didn’t have anything to do with what you thought it did. It was, um . . . an alien!”

Adrien worked very hard not to let any reaction to that cross his face while Marinette took off with this idea.

“Yeah, an alien! From, you know, space? And she’s here to, um, study humans. So it doesn’t have anything to do with Ladybug! _Pfft!_ I mean, how would that even make sense, right? What do little floating people have to do with superheroes?”

This was harder than Adrien had thought. He smiled placidly. “Oh. All right. Well, I . . . promise not to tell anyone about your alien friend, then. Sorry about jumping to conclusions.”

“You . . . believe me?”

“Of course. I trust you, Marinette.”

He thought he’d done everything right. Smile and nod. Pretend to believe what she said. Don’t ask for any details that would only make the lie bigger and weirder. Just let her get it out, so they could go back to the way things had been without her knowing any different so she’d stop stressing about it. But he seemed to be screwing it up without even doing anything, not even changing his expression. Her forced smile was getting even more forced and her face muscles were tensing up like a baby about to cry. Eventually, she let out a loud, “ _Guh!_ ” and threw her head into her arms on the tabletop.

“Marinette?”

“She’s not an alien!” she confessed, though her words were sort of muffled by her arms.

 _Oh, no._ How many excuses would she go through before she settled on one? “It’s okay, Marinette. You don’t need to tell me.” He patted her back reassuringly, but as soon as he touched her, she jerked upright.

“That was all a big, fat lie! I’m so sorry, Adrien! You’re so sweet and nice and good and amazing and wonderful and I don’t want to lie to you! You’re not crazy and Tikki’s not an alien and you were right the first time.”

What was going on here? “Um, Marinette, I don’t understand.”

She looked around, but no one else had come into the library since they’d gotten there. She still whispered when she said, “I _am_ Ladybug.” Then she gave him a weird, clenched-jawed terror-grimace.

His stomach tightened with nerves and excitement, and his eyes went wide. Why had she told him that? Why hadn’t she taken the out? “You—you are?”

She nodded. “Please don’t tell anyone,” she begged, still whispering.

“Why would I—? Marinette, you’re my friend. And Ladybug is . . . amazing. I mean it’s amazing what she does—what _you_ do. Saving the city. And I . . . uh . . . well, I know what a nuisance it is to be famous. Sometimes I wish I could wear a mask.” _Another_ mask, at least. He was famous no matter which face he showed. “At least you’re famous for something a lot cooler and more important than getting your picture taken a lot. But I get that it makes it dangerous, too. I’m . . . sorry I found out your secret. I really wasn’t trying to.”

“It’s okay,” she said. Her expression had toned down to slight worry. “You really think I’m cool?”

He laughed. “Of course! Ladybug’s the coolest of cool.”

She smiled at that, but it didn’t last very long, and then she looked kind of sad.

What had he said this time? “Marin—”

“My friend you saw is my kwami, Tikki,” she said, fiddling with her bag and not looking at him. “It’s complicated, but she’s sort of this ancient being who gives me superpowers. Not all the time; only when I’m Ladybug. Do you want to meet her?”

“Yes, please.”

She opened the flap on her bag, and the little red kwami floated out. “Take me to your leader,” Tikki said, then doubled over with the most adorable giggles Adrien had ever heard.

“Tikki!” Marinette whispered like the kwami was embarrassing her.

Tikki giggled again, then swooped close to Adrien’s face. “It’s very nice to meet you, _Adrien_ ,” she said—and then _winked_ at him.

He blinked back at her. Oh, right. The Dark Owl incident, where he and Ladybug had had to drop their disguises in order to let their kwamis refuel. He and Ladybug—Marinette—had kept their eyes shut tight, but their kwamis would have seen who they were. He wanted to be annoyed at Plagg for not telling him Ladybug was someone he already knew, but he knew Plagg was probably keeping it secret for the same reason Tikki was. She could tell Marinette at any time who he was, but so far she hadn’t.

But maybe she would, if Adrien gave her a reason to think it was in Marinette’s best interests to know. And then Marinette would probably hate him for making a fool of her.

He gulped. “Um, hi, Tikki. Nice t-to meet you, too.”

Marinette laughed. “There’s nothing to be scared of.”

He blushed and smiled shyly. “Heh. Right. Of course not.” His stomach growled. _Good timing, stomach_ , he mentally praised it. “We should get going if we want to get any lunch.”

“Oh! Right! Yeah, I . . . guess we should.”

“Want to see if we can catch up to Nino and Alya?”

“Good idea!” She opened her bag for Tikki to go back in, but when they both stood, she stopped again. “Oh! Um . . . I wouldn’t tell Alya what was bothering me this morning. At least, not—you know, everything. And so she sort of thinks I wanted to talk to you so I could ask you to go to the movies tomorrow.”

“Huh?” was all he could get out. Was Ladybug asking him on a date? Was he finally getting his chance?

“I mean all of us! The four of us! Like a big group thing as friends! That’s all!”

His heart settled down, and he tried to hide his disappointment with a chuckle. But he wasn’t _that_ disappointed. It was still time with his lady. And he’d _never_ be bummed to spend time with friends. “Sure. Sounds fun.” On the way out of the library, he touched her arm to get her attention. She jumped and sucked in a sharp breath. “Sorry,” he said quickly.

“No, it’s fine! Touch me however you want! I mean . . . ugh . . . what is it?”

He felt himself blush a little and tried to forget she’d just said that. He knew Marinette had trouble with forming her sentences when she was flustered, so it didn’t mean anything, and he’d never paid her babbling any mind before, but dang. _I hope one day you’ll say that to me and mean it_ , he thought, then instantly berated himself for it.

He leaned in close enough to say softly, “Am I really the only one who knows your secret?”

“Y-yes.” She looked so uncomfortable.

“And you really trust me with it?” Not that he could do anything about it now if she didn’t. Now that she’d confessed it to his face.

“Yes, Adrien. I trust you.” She smiled, relaxing, and she really did sound like she meant it.

 _Those_ words he let himself burn into his brain. They sounded so sweet to his ears.

Then he thought of Tikki and his own secret. Would Marinette still trust him when she found out he was Cat Noir and was playing dumb all this time? But even if he changed his mind about not wanting to burden her with his secret until she wanted it, it was already too late. Even if he told her right now, it would be awkward, and she’d be angry. And she was still twitchy around him. Maybe she’d decide it was better not to be his friend, to keep their two lives separate for their own safety.

His stomach growled again, and he decided to worry about it later.


	4. Chapter 4

“Seriously, dude? You’ve never gone to the movies before?” Nino asked as they came out of the subway tunnel by the theater.

“Sort of,” Adrien said. “With Natalie or other people my dad hired to babysit me. Or by myself when I could get away from them. Not with friends. The closest I ever got was with Marinette a couple weeks ago, but then my bodyguard got akumatized, tore the roof off the theater, and kidnapped me before the opening credits were even over, so that one may not count.” It was a fond memory, despite all the danger and fleeing. Though, looking back, he realized that after Gorizilla had grabbed him, he hadn’t given Marinette a second thought. She could have gotten hurt by pieces of falling roof, but he didn’t think of that. He hadn’t even checked in with her after it was all over to make sure she’d gotten home okay.

He really had never paid enough attention to Marinette before. Maybe that was why he’d never noticed she was Ladybug.

And yet, more than once when he’d been in danger and unable to slip away to transform into Cat Noir, when he was still regular Adrien, Ladybug had protected him with the sort of fierce desperation that showed true friendship. In costume or out, she never forgot who her friends were or failed to think of them, not even for a second.

He still had a lot to learn about friendship. He saw that now.

“Dude, that is so lame,” Nino said as they crossed the street. “No offense, Adrien, but your dad is the worst.”

“He . . . has his moments. He let me come today, and he didn’t even make me bring my bodyguard.” But as he said it, he glanced back and saw his bodyguard following them at an only semi-discreet distance.

Nino noticed too and shrugged. “Could be worse.”

They walked toward the ticket counter. “I hope we can get all the way through this one,” Marinette said.

“Me too,” agreed Alya, “but I’m keeping my phone handy, just in case.”

“Didn’t you upload the video of the attack at the school only yesterday?” Marinette asked.

“Sure, but I didn’t manage to get any closeups of Ladybug or Cat Noir, and my viewers love the money shots.”

Smiling to himself as he bought his ticket, Adrien made a note to give Alya her closeup the next time he got the chance. It wasn’t as if he didn’t know how to pose.

Once they’d all gotten their tickets and gone inside the theater lobby, Adrien offered, “Can I get you some popcorn, Mila— _arinette_?” _Nice save, dummy._

“P-popcorn?” she asked, looking at him as if he’d made an indecent proposal.

Which caused him to immediately backtrack. “Yeah, um, Nino, Alya, how about you? Popcorn? Drinks? My treat, to, uh, celebrate my first movie with friends.”

“Yeah, thanks!” said Alya

“That’s cool of you,” said Nino.

“Thank some popcorn! I’d love you!” Marinette blurted. “I mean, yes, popcorn mouth eat.” She groaned, grabbed Alya’s hand, and dragged her away.

“O . . . kay,” Adrien said. He’d always thought Marinette’s flustered babbling was a funny—if sometimes confusing—little quirk. But he didn’t know how many of her _let me confess my love to you, whoops never mind, I meant something totally different_ verbal flubs his heart could take. He needed to figure out why she got so nervous sometimes and see what he could do to fix it. “Hey Nino, why do you think Marinette gets flustered like that?”

Nino laughed and clapped him on the shoulder. “No way, man. You know you’re my best bud, Adrien, but if I told you that, Alya would kill me.”

“ _What_? You mean you know why?”

“I’m not supposed to, so you should probably forget I said anything. Hey, let’s order. It looked like the girls were going to grab some seats.”

Adrien followed him up to the concession counter and let Nino order the snacks, then mindlessly pulled out some cash to pay for them. So there _was_ a reason, huh? It made sense that Alya would know what it was, since she was Marinette’s best friend. But what on earth could it be? Did Marinette have some sort of embarrassing medical condition that scrambled the connection between her mouth and her brain sometimes? He could see why she wouldn’t want something like that getting around school, but he would hope they were close enough friends that she wouldn’t mind him knowing. She’d already told him her biggest secret, after all. What was one more?

He was still pondering this as Nino handed him some of the snacks and they headed for the theater room showing their movie. When they were nearly at the door, Adrien looked at what Nino had shoved into his hands. Then he looked at what Nino held. “Um, Nino. We only got two drinks and two popcorns?”

“Have you seen the prices they charge? It was cheaper to get two of the biggest size than four of the smaller ones.”

“But, I have money. I don’t mind.”

“Just because you have money doesn’t mean you need to spend it. Besides, it’s done now. We don’t need _four_ extra-larges.”

Shrugging, Adrien followed him in. The room was already very dark, but they could see all right by the light of the previews coming from the screen. The previews were so loud, though, that he couldn’t hear anything, and he and Nino had to rely on nods to coordinate where they were going. Nino spotted Alya waving at them from seats in the exact center of the theater, and Adrien followed him up the side aisle.

Marinette was on the side closest to them, but Nino went in first, scooting past the girls so he could sit on the other side, beside Alya. Normal-Adrien would have plopped down in the seat next to Marinette without thinking, but now something made him pause. He couldn’t figure out what it was, so he brushed aside the hesitation and set the oversized cup in the cupholder at the end of the armrest between their seats. He was then able to fold the seat down and sit next to her, holding the huge tub of popcorn in his lap.

Then it came to him. He’d have to share the drink with Marinette.

Something else he wouldn’t have thought anything of a couple days ago, but when she picked up the huge cup and took a drink, his eyes were fixed on her lips wrapped around the end of the straw.

“Popcorn?” he offered, holding it up for her. She took the popcorn, and he took the cup, and when he took a sip, her eyes widened and darted away.

He’d kissed her once, or so he’d heard. He didn’t remember anything about it. He’d almost kissed her again, when they were doing the student film, but it didn’t happen—and he wouldn’t have properly appreciated it at the time anyway.

He kept sucking on the straw, his lips where hers had been, and smirked to himself.

What would their first kiss—their first _real_ kiss—be like? He got so distracted with imagining that he missed the first couple minutes of the movie.

Nino had nixed the idea of a romantic comedy when Alya had suggested it, and they’d settled on a superhero movie without much further discussion. It was strange that sitting in a dark room, not talking or looking at each other much, could be such a fun experience with friends. They laughed at the same parts, made whispered comments (because there weren’t many other people in the theater), and generally enjoyed being together and sharing the experience.

It was great.

During the climactic fight scene, Adrien glanced over to see Marinette with her knees pulled up and the half-empty tub of popcorn cradled between her thighs and her chest, her eyes glued on the screen, rapt. He reached into the tub and got a handful of popcorn, and she didn’t even react. After he took a sip of their drink, she held out her hand, taking it and sucking out of it without her eyes ever leaving the screen. It was comfortable and familiar. He wanted more. He wanted it to last forever.

He leaned over a little and whispered, “Where do you think his akuma’s hiding?” Which was a joke because the villain was a dolphin-smooth fish-man wearing nothing but a speedo.

She giggled so hard she actually let out a little snort. If her hand had been accessible, he probably wouldn’t have been able to stop himself from reaching over and taking it in his.

When the credits started to roll, they picked their way through the seats and back out to the lobby.

“Thanks, guys,” Adrien said, smiling with joy. “That was amazing.”

“Wow, you liked the movie that much, huh?” Alya asked. “I mean, it was okay . . .”

“It wasn’t just the movie. It was”—he looked between the three of them, but he looked a little longer at Marinette, and her cheeks turned pink—“being here with you guys. Can we come again next weekend?”

Nino nodded. “I’m up for it. Totally!”

“Count me in,” said Alya.

Marinette had a weird, stiff grin on her face again. Only when Alya elbowed her did she say, “Yep! Me in! I’m too!”

She was flustered again. Adrien definitely needed to figure out what triggered that and what he could do about it. She was cute when she was flustered, but he really preferred the comfortable camaraderie.

She was his best friend, after all—even if she didn’t know it. If the unthinkable should happen and she never loved him the way he loved her, her friendship was still the most precious thing he had. They didn’t get to simply hang out as Ladybug and Cat Noir, though. There was always some villain to fight. Not in his wildest dreams would he have thought that she was already a friend he could hang out with when they were their regular selves. Now that he knew she was, he craved time like this, to hang out and be together without danger all around them. But there was still something preventing that, and he needed to figure out what it was and fix it.

“Good,” he said as they walked back out through the front doors of the movie theater. “I’ll ask Fath—”

They _had_ made it through the whole movie, at least, so he wasn’t all _that_ annoyed when they got to the street and saw a giant stuffed tiger swallowing people whole.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long delay since the last chapter, all, but I have good news. I've written the entire fic. It turned out to be a novel (longer than I was expecting). It's 31 chapters total, and I'll probably post a chapter a day (or so) until it's all up.
> 
> Oh, and if you spot any typos, please do point them out in a comment so I can fix them. (This goes for the whole fic.)

As soon as he saw the monstrous villain, Adrien turned to his friends to make sure they were still okay, so he didn’t see the giant, plush paw zooming through the air directly toward him until it had nearly grabbed him. Then a body slammed into his, knocking him to the pavement. They rolled together for ten feet until Adrien found himself flat on his back with Marinette half-sprawled on top of him.

Realizing instantly what had happened, Adrien looked past her head to see his bodyguard standing in the spot Adrien had just vacated, waving his fists threateningly at the giant stuffed tiger, only to be scooped up and tossed into the tiger’s mouth.

Adrien gaped the sight—and then at Marinette, who’d seen the same thing he had and shared his surprise. She pushed herself off of his chest and gave him a small, apologetic smile— _Apology not necessary, Milady_ —and the two of them jumped to their feet.

“I have to go,” she said, and Adrien gave her a sharp nod.

As she ran off behind a building, Adrien returned to his other friends to see that Alya already had her cell phone out and was recording while Nino hid behind a trash bin. He knew it would be useless to try to talk Alya out of recording the attack, so he shouted, “Nino! Keep Alya out of the path of that thing! I’m going to find Marinette!”

Nino popped out from behind the trash bin enough to see that Marinette was indeed missing and gave Adrien a thumbs-up. Alya started to edge closer to the monster, and Nino grabbed her arm and pulled her back.

Adrien ran around the corner he’d seen Marinette disappear behind in time to see her transform into Ladybug. His jaw dropped. That was _so cool_!

She saw him and started, then her face set in determination. “Stay back here where it’s safe,” she ordered. “Hopefully this won’t take long. Cat Noir should be here any second.” Her yo-yo zipped through the air, and she leapt away.

 _Yes, he will_ _be_ , Adrien thought. “Plagg, claws out!”

It didn’t take them long to deal with Cuddleclaws and put things back to normal. He’d even managed to give Alya a few good closeups while they were at it.

When the fight was over, Cat Noir and Ladybug were left standing in the middle of the road a block away from the movie theater. There was no traffic, since everyone was still reeling from what had happened. Cat Noir fist-bumped his partner, and she turned to run off.

“Wait!” He reached for her, pulling back his hand before actually grabbing her.

She turned to face him with a questioning look. They’d both used their powers, so they only had a few minutes. But they did have a few minutes.

There were still a lot of people around, so he jerked his head toward a rooftop, and she followed him up. When they had a little privacy, he asked, “So, how did it go with your friend?”

Ladybug bit her lip, looking suddenly very un-Ladybug-like. “You were right. I gave him the lamest story ever, and he believed it.”

“So . . . ? Problem solved?”

She groaned. “No. Him believing me only made it _worse_. He trusts me. I couldn’t lie to him like that. Especially not if . . .”

He cocked his head for her to continue. _Not if what?_

But she didn’t. “So I told him the truth. I’m sorry, Cat Noir. He’s . . . He means a lot to me. I couldn’t lie to his face.

 _He means a lot to me._ The words made his chest feel warm, and he a small smile crept over his face.

Ladybug didn’t look so happy, though. Her hands were fisted, and she hung her head. “I’m sorry. I totally screwed up. I know this is dangerous—for me, for him, maybe even for you. What if Hawk Moth finds out he knows who I am?” The thought sent her into a panic; he could see it in her eyes. “I didn’t think of that! Shoot! What if Hawk Moth kidnaps him and tortures him and—”

Cat Noir took her by the shoulders. “It’ll be fine, Ladybug. If you mean as much to him as he does to you”—she let out a dismissive snort which made Cat Noir frown in confusion, but he kept going—“then he won’t talk, no matter what.”

“I’m not afraid he’ll _talk_. I’m afraid he’ll get _hurt_.” She slapped her hands to her cheeks. “Hawk Moth is gonna find out. He’s gonna torture him. Oh, no! I’ve killed Adrien!”

“Ladybug, relax!” Maybe this wasn’t the best thing to do. Maybe this was stressing her out more than knowing his identity would be. Maybe he should—

Her Miraculous beeped. She gasped, turned away from Cat Noir’s grip, and leapt off the roof.

He had to book it to get back to his “hiding spot” before she missed him.

She’d already transformed back into Marinette and was calling his name when he slipped around the back corner of the alley. He managed to get behind a dumpster and transform without her noticing.

“Adrien!” she called, sounding scared.

He crawled out and offered an embarrassed smile. “Right here, safe and sound.” He stood and dusted himself off. “Father would have a cow if he saw me—”

Marinette threw her arms around him and buried her face in his shirt. “What—” He was so surprised, he didn’t even get his head together quickly enough to hug her back. She’d never been so happy to see him alive when he was Cat Noir. Was Adrien really so feeble-looking that she doubted he could survive even while hiding like a frightened turtle?

The shock finally let up, and a blush sprang into his cheeks, but while he was still trying to process the feeling of Marinette pressing herself all up against him, she jerked backward like she’d suffered a massive electric shock.

“Sorry!” Her eyes were enormous, and she tucked her hands against her chest. “Sorry! I’m just . . . glad you’re okay.”

He smiled nervously and rubbed the back of his head. “I’m fine. Are you—”

“Fine! Yeah!”

“Marinette!” cried Alya’s voice from somewhere out by the street. “Where are you, girl?”

“Here!” Marinette shouted, running out of the alley.

Adrien followed right behind her, and the four of them joined up on the sidewalk.

Nino cast a glance from Marinette to Adrien and back in a way that made Adrien’s already warm face get even hotter. “Don’t let us interrupt.”

Alya laughed. “What were you two doing back there?”

“What?” Marinette yelped. “Hiding from the—the villain! Like sane people!”

“Right,” Alya said with a grin. “Hiding so hard you’re both blushing and Adrien’s shirt’s all rumpled.”

Adrien quickly worked on straightening his shirt. As much as he liked the sound of what Alya was implying, Marinette was so appalled that she looked about to smack her best friend, so he said, “We were just hiding, Alya,” in a tone so calm and unbothered that Alya shrugged and held up her phone.

“Down, girl. I’m only teasing. You guys totally missed out, though. That villain was wild! And I got it all on video! Oh, and look at these pics!”

They gathered around her as she swiped through several photos. There were some great Ladybug shots. He’d have to save those on his computer after she posted them to the blog.

She kept swiping and got to his closeups. They’d turned out pretty good. He was admiring them and wondering what his dad would think of his efforts (not that his dad would ever know), when Alya giggled and said, “Cat Noir is such a goofball.”

Adrien frowned. No one else was disagreeing with her, so he said, “Goofball? It . . . kinda looks like he’s going for more ‘charming rogue’.”

“Going for, maybe, but come on. Total goofball.”

Marinette made a sound of agreement.

 _Ouch_. “You don’t think he’s even a little . . . I don’t know . . . rakish?”

“ _Pfft!_ ” Marinette said. “Cat Noir? No way.”

Adrien rubbed his arm. “But I thought Cat Noir has a lot of fans.”

Alya nodded. “Oh, he does, yeah! A lot of girls go for the goofball type.” She’d swiped past his pics and was back to more photos of Cuddleclaws.

Adrien sensed he should let the conversation move on, but he couldn’t help himself from saying, “Oh, uh . . .” turning to Marinette, “do _you_ go for the goofball type?”

Marinette flailed her hands forcefully as if waving away a horrible thought before it had the chance to land on her. “What? No! Absolutely not! Cat Noir is _not_ my type! At all!”

The words hit him like a knife to the heart. He nodded benignly. He definitely should have let the conversation move on before asking that. He tried to rectify that mistake by doing so now, but the damage was done.


	6. Chapter 6

Once all the pics had been seen, the girls stood together as Alya uploaded everything to the Ladyblog. Adrien took a few steps away and watched traffic slowly return to normal on the street.

Maybe it really was hopeless. Maybe Marinette would never be interested in him, no matter what he did. No matter how much he tried or how long he waited. Maybe he just wasn’t what she wanted or would ever want.

Nino sidled up beside him and people-watched with him for a minute or two. Then he broke the comfortable silence. “Come on, bud, you can tell me,” he said too softly for the girls to hear. “What were you and Marinette really doing back there?”

Adrien felt himself blushing again at the innuendo in Nino’s tone, and he tried to force it back. “Nothing, Nino. Hiding, like we said. Why? What do you think we were doing?” Might as well get it out there, whatever it was.

But Nino only shrugged. “Just saying, Marinette’s a nice girl. You could do worse.”

Adrien side-eyed him. Had Nino noticed Adrien suddenly acting differently around her? That wasn’t good. He needed to be normal, not do anything that might lead to questions which might lead to Marinette’s secret. So he played dumb. “Do worse for what?”

“Dude,” Nino said flatly.

Before Adrien had to test the limits of how clueless a teenage boy could plausibly be, Alya and Marinette came over. “What should we do now?” Alya asked. “We’ve still got all afternoon.”

Nino grinned. “I suddenly have a craving for some of Andre’s ice cream.”

“But we just had all that popcorn and soda,” Marinette pointed out.

“Exactly! We’re all fueled up for the search, and by the time we find him, we’ll be hungry again.”

Alya leapt on the idea. “Yeah! Adrien _did_ stand us up the first time we went. He still needs to try Andre’s ice cream.”

“I didn’t stand you up,” Adrien said, rolling his eyes. “My father wouldn’t let me leave the house.” And then he’d spent all that time setting up the romantic rooftop date for Ladybug, only for her to stand _him_ up. _Except_ . . . He cringed inwardly. Ladybug was Marinette, and Marinette had been in the group going to Andre’s last time. Even if she wasn’t interested in the date he’d set up, he could have snuck out as Cat Noir, transformed back to Adrien, and gone out with his friends as planned. It wasn’t the date he’d had in mind, but it would have been better than sitting alone on a rooftop, waiting for a girl who never showed.

Who . . . he then took to the rooftop and guilt-tripped about not coming.

 _Brilliant, Adrien. What a catch you are._ He wanted to smack his head against the nearest wall.

“Besides, I stopped by later,” he said, “so I _have_ tried it.”

“Then you know how good it is!” Alya insisted.

“You went to Andre’s by yourself?” Nino asked skeptically. “What’s the point of that?”

 _To get some magic help in winning Ladybug’s heart._ Adrien shrugged. “It _is_ the best ice cream in Paris. And I . . . kinda have to go most places by myself—except for Natalie and my bodyguard.”

“Well, not this time, shut-in,” said Alya. “Nino.”

“Already on it,” Nino said, pulling up something on his phone.

It only took them an hour to find Andre’s ice cream cart. Marinette had grown unusually quiet, and she kept casting glances at Adrien when she thought he wasn’t looking. He tried to smile reassuringly at her several times, but it didn’t seem to help. When they got in line at the cart, he stood back to let Alya and Nino go first.

“What flavor will you get?” he asked Marinette, not really thinking about the question but wanting to get that worried look off her face.

“You don’t get to choose,” she said. “Andre chooses for you.”

 _Oh, right_ , he remembered. _Oh,_ _no_ _!_ Andre had some kind of intuitive knowledge about who a person was in love with and gave them ice cream to match, complete with unambiguous explanation. If Marinette saw the black-spotted red ice cream Andre had given Adrien last time, she’d know he was in love with her. While he’d made his love pretty clear to Ladybug, he’d done it as Cat Noir, not as Adrien, and he didn’t really want her to find out he was in love with her because of the sweethearts ice cream guy.

When he focused on Marinette again, her eyes had gone big like there was something she was worried about too. “What’s wrong?” he asked, putting his own issues on hold.

“Nothing!” she said. “I just remembered! I’m, uh, not very hungry.”

 _How do you ‘just remember’ you’re not hungry?_ Whatever. He jumped on it. “Oh, yeah. Me neither. Maybe we should go wait over—”

He’d already taken a half-step out of line when Alya grabbed his arm. “No you don’t. You’re not skipping out again. Marinette”—she gave her friend one of those significant looks that only the friend could possibly know the meaning of—“don’t chicken out.”

 _Chicken out of getting ice cream?_ Alya could be so dramatic sometimes.

Not that he was one to talk.

“Alya’s right,” said Nino. “You can’t _not_ get ice cream after we came all this way for it. If neither of you are hungry, maybe you should split one.”

 _Split a sweethearts ice cream with Ladybug!_ Adrien’s heart did a happy dance, and he tried to tone down the excited grin he felt spreading across his face.

Marinette made a funny little squeak. “What? No! We couldn’t. I mean, unless you want to?”

 _Yes!_ said Adrien’s heart.

 _But what if_ _the ice cream shows her_ _you love her?_ said Adrien’s head.

Adrien was trying to think of a good way to respond, one that wouldn’t make him sound like an over-excited weirdo, when Andre greeted Alya and Nino and started scooping their ice cream.

 _Couples get different ice cream_ , he noticed.

“Uh, sure,” he told Marinette. “Why not?”

That seemed to make her happy. Maybe she _had_ wanted ice cream after all but was afraid of how it would look if she got a whole one for herself?

“Ah, sweet Marinette!” boomed Andre. Nice to see he wasn’t holding a grudge because of whatever she’d done to cause the akuma to go after him. “And handsome young Adrien!” Andre continued with even more excitement. Adrien couldn’t remember if he’d introduced himself last time, but he wouldn’t really have needed to for Andre to know who he was. “You have both found your love at last! This makes me so happy!”

Marinette went red. “What? No! I—That is—”

There she went again, freaking out at someone mistaking him for her boyfriend. It must have been even more annoying to her than he’d thought when all those people were posting photos of them on the internet and saying she was his girlfriend. True, she hadn’t acted annoyed, but she was a really nice person. She’d probably been being polite.

Adrien leaned over to whisper into Marinette’s ear, “Maybe we should play along and keep him happy this time.”

She got even redder.

Oh. That had probably sounded like he was chastising her for getting Andre angry last time. He hadn’t meant to do that. But now she was embarrassed again.

Then his own words reminded him of how Ladybug had suggested they pretend to be in love to fight Glaciator, and his happy mood darkened. He felt bad, for a second, that he’d made the same suggestion. But the difference was that Marinette wasn’t actually in love with him, so pretending wasn’t playing with her feelings.

Adrien reached down and casually took Marinette’s hand in his. He didn’t _have_ to interlace his fingers with hers, but he did. _Only to help sell it_ , said his brain.

His brain was a filthy liar sometimes.

“Hi, Andre,” he said. “We’d like some ice cream, please.”

“Of course, my beauties, of course!” He grabbed a cone and started scooping. “Chocolate dark as mystery, vanilla as pure as your feelings, and passion fruit for long love coming to fruition. Enjoy and be happy, for no two people deserve it more.”

Adrien took the cone from him—blushing and not quite able to look Marinette in the eye—and went over to where Alya and Nino were standing.

“Wow, that’s some intense ice cream,” Nino said, grinning. They’d obviously been standing close enough to hear Andre.

“Yeah, I—heh—don’t know where he got all that,” said Adrien. It was certainly true on his side—or he hoped it would be, once that fruition thing happened. But he thought couple cones were supposed to be for the couple, not just for the one who ordered.

Alya hummed in a thoughtful way, giving him a look that made Adrien a little nervous.

He turned to Marinette to offer her the cone. “Marinette, do you want some—”

But she wasn’t looking at him. She was smiling and staring down at something.

His eyes followed her gaze, only to see that he hadn’t actually let go of her hand yet.

And he . . . didn’t really want to.

He should, though.

He probably should.

 _Be normal_ , his brain reminded him.

Stupid brain.

He peeled his hand away from Marinette’s, used it to get one of the tiny spoons from the ice cream, and took a bite.

“Adrien!” Marinette yelped like she’d woken up from zoning out. What had gotten her so distracted?

Y _ou both found your love_ , Andre had said.

 _There’s a boy_ , Ladybug had said.

Ladybug—Marinette—liked someone. Liked him enough to get some of Andre’s ice cream while thinking of him.

“Ice cream!” Marinette shouted, though Adrien wasn’t sure why.

He offered it to her. “Yeah. Want some?”

She took the other tiny spoon.

Probably wishing she was eating it with whoever that boy was.

That boy she loved.

His competition.

She stabbed her tiny spoon too hard at the top scoop, and the passion fruit ice cream rolled right off the stack. With more reflex than thought, Adrien dropped his own spoon and caught the errant ball of ice cream in his hand.

Then he stared at it, blinking as he processed what had just happened.

Alya was the first to laugh. Then Nino, who added, “Nice catch, dude.” Then Adrien, as he stood there with two hands full of ice cream, one wet and sticky and cold.

He laughed and, without thinking, held it before Marinette’s face in his open palm. “Your ice cream, Milady.”

She blinked in surprise, then grinned in embarrassment. “I better not. My spooning is failing today.”

Something in the back of Adrien’s mind was screaming at him suddenly, but he pushed the feeling aside, refusing to think of anything at all and instead keep looking at how cute Marinette was. “Who needs spoons?” asked his thought-free mouth. And he held it closer to her face.

An expression of utter panic crossed Marinette’s face, and it threw enough cold water on him—emotionally speaking—that he heard that little part of his brain say, _You said Milady._

But before he could panic or wonder if she’d picked up on it, Marinette’s tongue darted out of her mouth and took a tiny lick of the ice cream ball in Adrien’s hand.

Then she froze, and Adrien froze, and they both stared at each other with eyes so big it was like they were having a silent contest to see who could push their own eyes out of their sockets first.

A stiff smile of utter agony stretched Marinette’s mouth. “It’s . . . good,” she forced out.

Adrien had no idea what to do. He wanted to drop all the ice cream and run away in embarrassment. He wanted to apologize for making such an inappropriate offer and putting her in such a weird position. He wanted to kiss her and taste the ice cream for himself.

He chuckled nervously and filled his mouth with ice cream so he wouldn’t have to talk, pretending like eating a cold, melting ball of ice cream as if it were an apple was totally a normal thing to do.

Because looking at Marinette and her own fidgeting embarrassment was too hard, he turned back to Alya and Nino.

Nino was laughing his head off. Alya was laughing too, but she was doing it with her cell phone in her hand, pointed right at Adrien.

“Did you film that?!” Marinette screeched at her friend.

“Yep!” Alya said triumphantly.

“If you put that on the internet, I will kill you!”

 _Thank you_ , Adrien thought at the girl he loved. He didn’t know why Marinette was so worried, though. No one knew who she was, so what would anyone care? But since it was Adrien, that video could make the evening news. Or at the very least, all the celebrity gossip shows.

“Don’t worry, girl,” Alya assured her. “I run the Ladyblog, not the Adrienblog. I’d only post a vid like that if I could catch Ladybug and Cat Noir doing it. Oh my gosh, can you imagine?” The thought made her actually double over in laughter.

“Hilarious,” Marinette muttered.

Adrien shoved another bite of ice cream into his mouth.


	7. Chapter 7

As a general rule, Adrien didn’t read what people said about him on the internet—because that way lies madness—but this time, he read the comments people posted on the Cat Noir pictures Alya had put on the Ladyblog.

_What a cutie!_

_I bet he’s totally hot under that mask._

_Raerr!_

_That boy cracks me up._

_I can’t get over how tight those costumes are. What do you think they’re made of?_

_I know he’s probably young enough to be my son, but—_

He stopped there.

Not a single comment actually called him a goofball, although a few did lean that direction. Several of them leaned quite a different direction, so obviously some girls appreciated his attempts to be dashing.

None of that mattered, though, because apparently Ladybug wasn’t one of them.

He sighed and pushed away from his computer. His efforts to woo her as Cat Noir were a catastrophe— _heh_ —and now he knew why. Cat Noir wasn’t her type. She couldn’t have been more clear about that. But he loved her too much to take it at that and give up.

If he couldn’t win her as Cat Noir, was there a chance—now that he knew who the girl behind the mask was—that he could win her as Adrien? They were already good friends, which was a solid start. Plus, he was rich and famous. He hated the idea of using that fact to gain any advantage socially—the very concept made him cringe—but for Ladybug, it might be worth it.

Then again, Chloe used her money and influence all the time, and Marinette kind of hated her for it. But Chloe was . . . not always the nicest person. She mostly used her influence in selfish ways. Maybe he could do it without being mean? Without . . . hurting anyone?

He pictured himself throwing around his money and fame the way Chloe did and winced. He didn’t think he could actually do it.

But what else did Adrien have to use in wooing a girl? Without the confidence he gained with a mask and superpowers, he was just a quiet, boring boy with a weird job that interfered with his social life. Even the fact that he _had_ a social life was relatively new. He was still getting used to interacting with people as friends. He didn’t know the first thing about trying to get a girlfriend.

Marinette loved someone already. Maybe if he could figure out who that boy was, he’d understand more about what she was looking for. And, unless what she was looking for was something he could never be, maybe he could use that information to guide his approach.

“Who do you think she’s in love with, Plagg?”

“Kid, do I look like I either know or care who some girl is in love with?”

“This isn’t _some girl_. This is our partner.”

“My point stands.”

Some help he was.

There was a different kwami who could help him, though. Tikki went with Marinette everywhere. Surely she knew who Marinette was in love with.

No, that wouldn’t work. Tikki would never betray Marinette’s confidence by telling him. Neither would Alya, who also had to know. Marinette hadn’t told her best friend about being Ladybug, but Adrien was pretty sure which boys they liked was something all girls talked about with their best girl friends.

Which didn’t matter, because no way would Alya tell him. He’d just have to figure it out on his own.

When school started on Monday, Adrien was a man with a mission. Now, it was possible that this guy Marinette liked was someone he didn’t know. Maybe a frequent customer to the bakery or some boy she knew from somewhere else. But it was easiest to start with the most likely suspects: someone at their school. And of the people in their school, she spent the most time (as far as he knew) with the people in their class.

So he was only half-listening to Nino talk about some movie as he sat at their desk, waiting for everyone to drift in.

He counted off the boys in their class. There were six: himself, Nino, Nathaniel, Kim, Ivan, and Max.

Adrien was pretty sure it wasn’t Ivan, since Ivan was with Mylene, and Marinette had never been anything but enthusiastically supportive of their relationship.

“Nino,” Adrien said, interrupting whatever Nino had been saying, “remember when you liked Marinette and I helped you set up that date with her?”

Nino gave him an odd look. “Sure.”

“After the whole Animan thing, did you ever tell her you liked her?”

“Haha, yeah.”

“How’d she react?”

“To be honest, she seemed relieved when I told her that I _had_ had a crush on her but didn’t anymore.”

“Oh.” So that ruled Nino out. Adrien had figured it was a longshot, but best to be thorough.

Nino laughed. “Adrien, are you asking if Marinette is interested in me?”

“What? No. Just . . . wondering how that all played out. I was helping you try to get Marinette, then next thing I know, you’re with Alya.”

“Uh-huh. Tell me, Adrien, exactly how cool with it do you think Alya would be if her best friend was interested in her boyfriend?”

“Not . . . not that cool with it,” Adrien said, slumping down into his seat, feeling very foolish for having asked.

“Correct.”

Adrien watched Kim and Max walk into the room and past them, up the aisle. “Remember when Kim became Dark Cupid? Did you ever hear what caused that?”

“Yeah. He tried to give Chloe a Valentine’s Day present and she stomped all over him. Didn’t you get the photo? She texted it to, like, everyone.”

He had gotten it, but he’d been so distracted by his conviction to tell Ladybug he loved her as soon as he saw her, he hadn’t realized the significance.

“Alya told me Marinette felt bad about it,” Nino continued, “since she’d encouraged him to give it to her, not knowing Chloe was the one he bought it for.”

So, not Kim, then.

Hmm . . . She _had_ expressed previously unknown interest in the video game competition when she’d walked in on try-outs, and everyone knew that was Max’s thing.

“Adrien,” Nino said in an amused tone. He was smirking. “Are you trying to figure out who Marinette likes?”

“Maybe.”

“And why would you be trying to do that?”

 _Be normal. Be normal._ “She’s my friend, and, you know”—he shrugged—“I want her to be happy. Like you and Alya are happy.”

Nino laughed. And laughed.

“What?”

“Oh, man. I thought this week was gonna be boring, and then you give me a gift like this.” When Alya and Marinette walked in, Nino grabbed Alya’s wrist, pulled her down, and whispered into her ear.

“He is?” Alya gasped, shooting a surprised look at Adrien. Nino nodded. Alya burst out laughing. “Oh my gosh! That is awesome!”

“I know, right?” Nino said. “This is gonna be great.”

“Um, what’s so funny?” Marinette asked.

“Nothing,” Alya said, sliding into her seat and holding back more laughter.

“Nino!” Adrien hissed.

“It’s fine, dude,” Nino said quietly enough that the girls didn’t hear. “She won’t tell.”

“Oh. Good. How do you know?”

“Secret boyfriend-girlfriend telepathy.”

Adrien wanted to keep arguing, but not with Marinette sitting right behind him. So he pulled out a piece of paper and started making a list. He wrote _Ivan_ , _Nino_ , and _Kim_ , then crossed all the names out. Below them, he added _Max_ and _Nathaniel_.

Nathaniel had once liked Marinette—enough to ask her on a date as a supervillain. Did he still like her? She definitely hadn’t seemed very interested in him at the time, but that had been a while ago. What if her feelings toward him had changed? If they had, she might be too embarrassed about how things had gone before to say anything to him.

Luckily, their science class gave Adrien a chance to learn more. They were assigned another project, this time broken into groups of two as assigned by the teacher. Adrien was partnered with Max, and Marinette was partnered with Nathaniel.

Later that day, Adrien sat in the library at a table with Max, as close as he could inconspicuously get to the table where Marinette sat with Nathaniel, and eavesdropped.

“I don’t think I’m going to be much help on this,” Nathaniel told Marinette. “I’m not very good at science. Sorry.”

“Oh, that’s just because you don’t pay attention in class,” Marinette said cheerfully.

There was an awkward pause, then Nathaniel chuckled. “I don’t pay attention because I’m not good at it, not the other way around. It’s frustrating when no matter how hard you try to understand something, you never do. Art is so much simpler.”

“No argument here. What have you been working on, anyway?” There was the sound of something sliding across the table.

“Oh, um, it’s—” Even though Nathaniel couldn’t get his words out, his tone sounded urgent.

“Is this Ladybug?” Marinette asked.

Adrien got up from his chair. There was a bookcase between his table and Marinette’s. Slowly and quietly, he crept over to peek around the far edge of it.

Marinette was looking with awe at Nathaniel’s sketchpad as the red-haired boy sat across from her, moving his fingers like he was about to snatch it back.

“Um, yes, it is. I’m sort of working on a . . . Ladybug comic.” His fingers curled into a loose fist. “Do you . . . like it?”

Marinette’s jaw dropped as she flipped through the pages. “Nathaniel, this is amazing! You’re so talented!”

 _No way! A Ladybug comic?_ Adrien thought. _I want to read it! I wonder if I’m in it._ He craned his neck to get a better look, but he was too far away.

Nathaniel ducked his head. “Thank you. Could I see your sketchpad?”

“Sure,” Marinette said, pushing it toward him. “It’s nothing like what you do, though.”

Nathaniel paged through it, smiling. “These are great. You’re a really talented designer, Marinette.”

Adrien frowned. He didn’t have a sketchpad. He didn’t design or draw anything. He just wore clothes other people designed. Like a mannequin. Watching the two of them share their art like that, he could understand if Marinette did like Nathaniel. They were two talented artists who admired and respected each other’s work. He didn’t have anything like that to offer her.

“So, you want to be a clothing designer?” Nathaniel asked.

Marinette let out a dreamy sigh. “Yeah.”

“You should ask Adrien to model some of your designs.”

If Adrien hadn’t already been listening, he would have perked up at the sound of his name. _Of course! Why_ _didn’t I think_ _of that?_

“What?” Marinette giggled. “I couldn’t ask him to do that. I’d feel so silly. He’s a professional cover model.”

“He’s your friend, though, right? Maybe he would.”

“But his dad’s, like, the most amazing designer in the world. I’m sure my designs would be embarrassing next to what he’s used to.”

 _Don’t sell yourself short, Ladybug_ , Adrien thought.

“Adrien,” Max said, “what are you doing?”

Marinette’s and Nathaniel’s heads turned toward Adrien, and he ducked out of sight. Facing Max, he tried to play it casual. “I was . . . looking for some research.”

“In the fiction section?”

“Um, yeah, for a . . . different class.”

Max obviously didn’t buy it, but luckily he didn’t seem to care enough to press the issue. “Have you gotten your part of the project done?”

“Yeah, you?”

“Pretty much.”

Nathaniel appeared from around the other side of the bookcase. “You guys are done already? We’ve barely started.”

“I’m happy to help if you need it,” Adrien offered, then tossed a questioning look to Max.

Max shrugged. “Me, too. I’ve got some time.”

Nathaniel nodded. “That would be great.”

Adrien gathered his things and moved to the other table, taking the chair beside Marinette before Max could. “Hi, Marinette.”

She gave him a weird smile. “Hi, Adrien.”

“What’s this?” He pulled Nathaniel’s sketchpad from where it was still lying in front of Marinette and started flipping through before anyone could stop him. Which was ruder than he’d normally be, but he _really_ wanted to see this Ladybug comic.

Nathaniel half-way reached for it. “Oh, that’s, um—”

“Really good!” Adrien said, and Nathaniel calmed down. “Wow, Cat Noir’s really . . . buff.”

“It’s comic-style,” Nathaniel said apologetically. “Everyone’s buff.”

“I’m not complaining.” He handed it back to the artist. “That’s really great. I bet Ladybug would love it.”

“You think?”

Adrien darted a covert smile to Marinette. “How could she not?”

They worked on the project for a couple hours, but Adrien still couldn’t get a read on whether Max or Nathaniel was the guy Marinette liked. Only once he got home did he realize the reason.

He didn’t actually know how a girl acted when she liked a guy. His only point of reference on girl behavior had for most of his life been Chloe, and all he really knew was that not all girls acted like Chloe. Most girls didn’t throw themselves into guys’ arms, sometimes literally leaping on them with all four limbs, and try to press uninvited kisses onto them. For a brief instant, he wished Marinette was more like Chloe. If she leapt on a guy and smothered him with kisses, at least Adrien would know which one she was interested in. (Then again, he didn’t believe that behavior really meant anything even coming from Chloe.)

He didn’t have any idea what Marinette—or Ladybug—would act like when she liked a guy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I did seriously consider using Luka (is that how it's spelled?) in this story but decided against it mainly because 1) he's only been in one episode (US) so far, so we don't really know how he's going to be used in the story or very much about who he is as a character, and 2) I didn't really want that complication. Personally, I dislike love triangles, and I'm kinda bummed that it looks like they've introduced competing love interests for both of the MCs on the show, but I hope they'll progress with that in a way that doesn't distract too much from the main romance(s).


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I guess I've gotten impatient. I'd planned to stretch this out a bit, but I just noticed that there are some new episodes airing in English, and I figure maybe it's better to release the whole fic now, before it gets (any more) Jossed by the show. Heh. It's been a long time (maybe never?) since I wrote fanfic for an ongoing story that still had new canon coming out, where the fic wasn't deliberately AU. So here we are. Ah, well. Enjoy bingeing. :-)
> 
> Not that it's not very nice to be able to download e-book files from AO3, but if you'd like to have a copy of this fic as a professionally-formatted e-book file with a cover, you can download it at my website here: https://www.shawnacanon.com/fanfic

On Tuesday, between classes, Adrien found himself in the courtyard, standing with Chloe and Sabrina, listening to Chloe enthuse about some new hat she’d bought.

“Adrikins!” Chloe sing-songed. “What is wrong with you? Are you even here?”

Okay, maybe _listening_ was too strong a word.

“Sorry, Chloe. I’m just distracted.”

“What can you possibly be distracted by when _I’m_ standing right here?”

Chloe was his friend, right? And maybe she was a little over-affectionate sometimes, but it wasn’t like she actually liked him like that. And even if she wasn’t representative of all girls, she did _know_ other girls. “Hey, Chloe? How does a girl act when she likes a guy?”

Sabrina gasped. Chloe squealed and did a weird little dance. “Obviously, she never misses a chance to tell him, my darling Adrien. She reminds him every day how handsome and funny and smart he is.” She threw her arms around his neck. “And she makes sure he has all of her attention whenever he’s around. Isn’t that right, Sabrina?”

“So right, Chloe!”

Then Chloe tried to kiss him, and he turned his head so she got his cheek. He gently pulled her arms down. Maybe Chloe _didn’t_ know how other girls acted when they liked guys. “Okay. Thanks, Chloe.” He let out a disappointed sigh and headed for his next class.

On Wednesday, when he went home for lunch, his dad was working at his station when Adrien walked by.

“Father, can I ask you something?”

“Of course, Adrien,” Gabriel said without looking up. “Talk to Natalie to schedule a time.”

“I mean now. It’s a quick question.”

Only Gabriel’s eyes moved when he took them from his workstation to meet his son’s gaze. “All right.”

Adrien almost took it back, but he actually had his father’s attention, so he said, “How does a girl act when she likes a guy?”

Gabriel raised an eyebrow. “You are rich, famous, and beautiful, son. Any girl you choose will be ecstatic to have your attention.”

“But if I want to get her to like me, how will I know if it’s working?”

“Whoever this girl is, she likes you. And if she doesn’t, there are thousands of others who do. You don’t have to _do_ anything.” He went back to his work.

Well, that was less than helpful.

On Thursday morning, in the car on the way to school, Adrien said, “Natalie, how does a girl act when she likes a guy?”

Natalie looked up from her phone in surprise. “I—I suppose it depends on the girl. Adrien, is there a girl at your school who’s bothering you?”

“No, that’s not it at all!”

“Because if you’ve got another stalker, I need to call—”

“No, Natalie, that’s not it! I _want_ her to like me!”

“Oh.” She went back to typing on her phone. “Adrien, your schedule is more than full already. I don’t think you’ve got time for girls. Besides, you’re only fourteen. I don’t know why—”

“No, not _girls_ ,” he said, but Natalie was still talking. She didn’t seem to hear him as he added, “Just . . . one girl.”

On Friday, he went to lunch at a Chinese restaurant with Nino, Alya, and Marinette. They sat at a booth, Alya sliding in beside Nino so Adrien and Marinette were forced to do the awkward “no, after you” dance—Adrien won—at the other side of the booth. They ordered two big entrees for the table, and things stayed nice and casual until Marinette had to go use the restroom. When Adrien slid back into the booth after getting up so she could get out, he was met with two very amused and kind of smug looks from his friends.

“So, did you figure it out yet?” asked Alya.

Adrien grabbed a piece of fried chicken with his chopsticks, dipped it in sauce, and shoved it into his mouth. “Figure what out?” he asked around it.

“Who Marinette likes.”

“Oh, that. No.”

“Seriously, dude?” Nino asked.

Adrien shrugged. “I’ve narrowed it down.”

Alya picked up a piece of chicken with her fingers like she was going to eat it but didn’t. “To?”

“To . . . not Ivan, Nino, or Kim.”

Nino laughed. “You got that far Monday morning. Do you mean you haven’t made any more progress?”

“It’s not like I don’t have other things to think about. It was only . . . casual curiosity.”

“Uh-huh,” said Alya.

Adrien had considered asking Alya how Marinette would act if she liked a guy, but she already knew he was trying to figure it out, and he needed to act normal and not like he’d suddenly become very interested in Marinette. With Alya most of all. If anyone was likely to dig into any strangeness that could lead to Ladybug’s unmasking, it was the girl who ran the biggest fan site devoted to her. Besides, if she didn’t want to tell him who Marinette liked, she probably wasn’t any more likely to give him hints that would help him figure it out. “You could just tell me. We’re all friends, aren’t we? Why should she care if I know? It’s not like I’ll make fun of her for it.”

“Then why don’t you ask her yourself?” Alya said, more loudly than before.

Which Adrien understood when Marinette appeared beside him. “They’re out of toilet paper and, um, never mind. Ask me what?”

“Nothing,” Adrien said, sliding out of the booth to let her in. Alya gave him a challenging glare, and he said, “Just wondering if you, uh, like anyone?”

Marinette’s hands went stiff on the table, and she threw Alya a panicked look. “What? No! I—Why? Do you?”

“What? Me?” He looked away, hand running over the back of his head. “Not really. I was just, ah, curious. As your friend.” He sat back down and gave Alya a look that said, _See? This is why I didn’t ask her._ But Alya was grinning like she’d enjoyed watching them both suffer.

That had not been the normal way to ask that question. He’d definitely made it too awkward for a casual question between friends, and maybe Marinette hadn’t picked up on it, but he could see that Alya and Nino had.

Shoot. He wasn’t doing the normal thing very well.

Though he did know that for some reason Marinette _really_ didn’t want him to know who she liked. Maybe she thought he’d think she had bad taste in guys?

Nino took pity on him, though. “Are we still on for movies tomorrow?”

 _Thanks, Nino._ “Yeah, I’m really looking forward to it.”

“Me, too!” Marinette agreed.

A soft smile settled over Adrien’s face as he anticipated sitting beside Marinette and sharing snacks with her again. Then his phone buzzed. “Oh, no,” he said, reading the text. “It’s Natalie. I’ve got a big photoshoot scheduled all day tomorrow.” He really hated it when they didn’t even bother telling him until the last minute. As if he had nothing else he wanted to do but work.

“What?” Nino shook his head. “Dude, that sucks.”

“Seriously,” said Alya.

“Yeah,” Marinette said quietly.

Adrien looked at her beside him. He hated having to give up their group outing together, but maybe . . . maybe this was an opportunity. “Marinette, you’re really into fashion design, right?”

She perked up. “Yeah.”

“Why don’t you come? It’s for my dad’s new line. He’ll probably be there. I heard you really admire his work.”

Her face lit up like the sun. “For real?!”

He couldn’t help smiling back. “Yeah. I’ll work it out with Natalie, if you want.”

“I’d love to!”

He turned to Alya and Nino. “You don’t mind, do you guys?”

Alya held up her hands. “Not at all. You two have fun. Nino and I can enjoy the movie by ourselves.”

“Totally,” Nino said with a grin.

“I get to go to a real, live fashion shoot!” Marinette said like she was having trouble believing it.

It was adorable how excited she got over something that was so regular and mundane to him. How easy it had turned out to be, making her happy.

Wait. Was that a stuck-up rich-person thing to think? Despite having considered it, he didn’t really want to use the advantages he got from his dad to win her. Then again . . . what else did he have? She was Ladybug, protector of Paris, a girl who took the world by the horns. And he was just the guy who helped her. The guy who sometimes got mind-controlled by the villain and instead of helping her became another thing she had to deal with to save the day. And she did. Every time.

If he could use what he had to make her happy, he’d do it. _Whatever_ he had. Not to win her, but because she was amazing and kind and brave and deserved all the happiness she could get.


	9. Chapter 9

Adrien’s limo arrived at the bakery bright and early at seven-fifteen Saturday morning. “I’ll be right back,” he said as he got out.

“Hurry, Adrien,” Natalie reminded him. “Your call time is in half an hour.”

The scent of bread and pastries washed over him as he entered the shop, and he paused for a moment to breathe in the delicious smells. The place was crowded and there was a line seven people long, but he did need to hurry, so he walked up beside the counter. “Hi, Mrs. Dupain-Cheng. Is Marinette ready to go?”

She was ringing up a large order and could barely spare a moment to glance at him. “Oh, dear. I’ve been so busy, I forgot to check on her. Why don’t you go up and knock on her door? And here, take a croissant.”

Adrien nibbled the croissant on his way up the stairs to the family’s living area. He didn’t see Marinette’s dad and assumed the man must be in the bakery’s kitchen. He went up the stairs and knocked on the hatch-door to Marinette’s room. “Marinette? Are you ready to go? It’s Adrien.”

He heard some thumping and unintelligible mumbling, but she didn’t actually respond to him.

He knocked again. “Marinette? The car’s waiting outside.”

After he’d taken a few more bites to finish the croissant, Marinette still hadn’t responded. He put his hand on the latch and was already putting pressure on it to open it when it occurred to him that this was Marinette’s bedroom and, if she was getting ready, she might not be entirely dressed.

He let go of the door instantly and instead knocked again, louder. “Marinette?”

The door shot open, and Marinette’s face appeared. “Adrien! You’re here! I thought that was a dream.”

He chuckled. “Um, no? Are you ready to go? You do still want to come, right?”

“To the photoshoot! Yes!” She stepped aside, and at first Adrien thought she might be silently inviting him in for some reason. It was a good thing he didn’t act on that and start going up, since the door slammed back down onto the frame, an inch above his head. There was more thudding, then it opened again and Marinette hurried down, crowding him on the staircase because he didn’t move aside fast enough. “Yeah! Let’s go!”

And then he was hurrying to keep up with her as she blazed down the stairs and out through the bakery. She hesitated when she reached the limo, which gave him the chance to open the door for her. “Your carriage, mademoiselle.”

She giggled and climbed inside. As soon as he’d followed her in and they’d both buckled up, the limo took off. It wasn’t the fanciest limo his dad owned, but Marinette gawked at everything from the leather seats to the tinted windows to the little built-in refreshments cooler.

She ran a hand back and forth over the seat. “This is _so nice_!”

“Only the best for you, M—” This time, he caught himself before calling her _Milady_. “Marinette.” Or the best he could convince his dad to let him give her, anyway. His dad had been reluctant to let Adrien bring a friend on a shoot, but when Adrien had told him that Marinette had called Gabriel _the most amazing designer in the world_ , that must have softened him up enough to allow it. Then Adrien had pointed out that there’d be more room for both of them and Natalie in a limo than a sedan, and wouldn’t it be good for his image for all the people working the shoot to see him pull up in a limo.

Adrien really didn’t want _guy who shows off his limo_ to be his image, but he’d use what he had to.

“You’re the best,” Marinette said, still stroking the seat leather, then looked at him and smiled as her cheeks tinged pink.

He allowed himself to pretend she meant more than a simple _thank you_ by those words.

Marinette spent the trip enjoying the ride, and Adrien spent it enjoying her enjoying the ride.

They came to a stop in a really modern, downtown sort of area, where all the traffic and sidewalks had been taped off for a couple blocks. When they got out, Marinette frowned. “This isn’t what I was expecting.”

“Yeah, Father wanted this shoot to have an edgy, urban feel, so the more classic locations weren’t really right for it.”

“Edgy, huh?”

“Well”—he shrugged—“as edgy as I can get, anyway. Come on. Dressing room’s this way.”

“D-dressing room?”

He laughed at her nervousness. “It’s okay. Promise.”

As they made their way to the dressing room, Marinette looked around at the photographers, the lighting people, the P.A.s, and at the people standing on the other side of the tape despite the security people who tried to shoo them away. “Your dad can get whole city blocks shut down like this?”

“Sure. It’s not that hard. Film crews do it all the time. It’s just paperwork.”

“Doesn’t it annoy the people who live here?”

He looked around at the mostly commercial buildings. “I don’t think anyone lives here. Anyway, there’s always still local access. See them?” He pointed to a couple guys with headsets. “Their whole job is to coordinate foot traffic so that people who need to get from one place to another don’t get in the line of the camera when photos are being taken. With the headsets, they can request a pause in shooting for people to get where they need to go.”

“Wow. There’s so much coordination. So many people.”

“Yeah, sometimes shoots are a real production.”

They were following several paces behind Natalie, so when they arrived in the dressing room, she went in first. The dressing room for this shoot was a big, long tent with a main entrance in the middle. Sometimes he got a trailer, sometimes an actual room, but the tent thing wasn’t unusual for a location shoot like this. The main doorway of the tent was open enough for Marinette and him to walk in side-by-side without brushing the tent flap. Inside, there was a roughly ten by ten space where Natalie was talking with a young woman with a clipboard.

“She’s checking me in,” he told Marinette. “Come on, I’ll introduce you to some of the other models.” He headed to the closed flap on the right labeled _Men_.

“W-what?!”

He’d taken a couple steps that way, but now turned to see Marinette standing frozen in the middle of the central space. “What’s wrong?”

“That’s the men’s dressing room!”

He blinked. Oh, right. That could have been embarrassing. He stuck his head through the flap and called out, “Is everyone decent?” Five voices answered back some variation of _Yes_ , and he held the flap open for Marinette. “See? It’s fine.” She still hesitated, so he went in first but held it open so she could follow. She did, and as soon as he’d dropped the flap, someone walked out from behind one of the racks of clothes.

“Hey, Adrien. Who’s this?” asked a twenty-something guy named Javier. Adrien wasn’t sure what Javier would be modeling today, since he was still in socks and boxers, but he had a pair of black jeans in one hand. “New model?”

“No, this is Marinette, a friend from school. She’s interested in fashion design. Marinette, this is Javier. I’ve known him for about eight years. He’s studying architecture in college.”

“Too bad. She’s got a nice girl-next-door kind of thing going on. The two of you would take some great couple shots.” Javier held out his hand to her. “Nice to meet you, Marinette.”

Marinette had gone a very bright shade of red, and her mouth was stretched into a terrified grimace-smile. “Nice to chest you. I mean—naked meet you. I mean—nice abs.”

Javier cracked up. “Oh, she’s cute. You should hold onto that one.” He went back to what he’d been doing.

 _That’s the plan_ , Adrien thought, still kind of warm inside from the suggestion of couple shots. “You okay, Marinette?”

“That guy was naked!” she hissed.

“What? No, he wasn’t.”

“He was _mostly_ naked.”

“Are you . . . uncomfortable?” he asked, genuinely confused as to why she would be.

“Why would I be uncomfortable around a bunch of attractive, mostly naked guys?” she said, but she did look uncomfortable.

Adrien looked around to see other models in the process of getting changed. “Sorry. I didn’t think. I’ve been around modeling my whole life. To me, naked means swimsuit areas uncovered, and anything short of that isn’t worth mentioning. Trust me, you do a few live shows and all the quick changes that come with them, and you stop caring who sees you in your underwear.”

Marinette let out a big breath. “Sorry. I know it’s silly. This whole world you’re part of is so strange to me.” She spread her arms to encompass all of modeling.

He laid a hand on her shoulder. “You’re going to be a designer, so it’ll be your world, too.”

“Eeh. Maybe. We’ll see.”

“Anyway, if you’re uncomfortable here, let’s go say hi to some of the female models. We’ve got a few minutes before I need to get changed.” He led her back out into the central area between dressing rooms, then paused at the entrance to the women’s side and called out, “Excuse me, ladies. It’s Adrien. Can I come in? I want to introduce you to someone.”

Marinette looked just as shocked at the idea of him going into the women’s dressing room, but when they called out that he could enter and he held open the flap, Marinette went in without argument.

A young woman in a bra and a skirt greeted him with a hug and a kiss on each cheek. “Adrien! It’s so good to see you. It’s been too long.” She released him and stepped back.

“Good to see you too, Emily. How was Spai—”

Marinette grabbed a shirt off the nearest rack and threw it over Adrien’s head.

Emily laughed hysterically.

“Hi there,” Marinette said with unusual force. “I’m Marinette. And you are?”

“Emily,” said the young woman. “You must be Adrien’s girlfriend.”

“I—well, no, I’m—his friend—oh, no.”

“Marinette,” Adrien said calmly. “Can I take this off my head yet?”

Slowly, the shirt slid away to reveal Marinette holding it and looking sheepish. “Sorry,” she said. “Reflex.”

“It’s okay,” he said, smiling. “Why don’t you stay here and talk with Emily and the others while I go get changed?”

“Okay.”

“Okay.”

Back in the men’s area, Adrien found the rack with his name on it and the hanger labeled with a _1_. It held a pair of dark blue jeans, a black button-up shirt, and a fitted vest. He frowned at the subtle butterfly—or _moth_ —pattern woven into the vest. He knew his dad couldn’t be Hawk Moth because he’d gotten akumatized once, and vague butterfly shapes were not an uncommon motif, but still. It made him feel like he was doing some kind of Hawk Moth cosplay. The vest was even done in dark shades of purple and grey.

He stripped out of his clothes and pulled the jeans on. Everything was measured and cut to fit him perfectly, and it did. Just as he had pulled the shirt on and was about to get started on the buttons, he heard a shriek come from the women’s dressing area.

 _Not an akuma! Not today!_ He bolted across the tent, throwing open flaps, and burst into the women’s area. “What’s wrong?” Frantically, he looked for a villain or monster or black butterfly.

All he saw was Marinette standing with two women, one of them holding Marinette’s sketchpad. “Have you seen these?” the woman squealed in delight.

Adrien let out a relieved—and kind of annoyed—breath and put a hand to his racing heart. It was just Colette, a woman with even wilder and more dramatic mood swings than Chloe.

“These are so good!” she shouted, her voice going into a painful octave.

“Colette, you lunatic!” said someone behind Adrien, and he turned to see that Marc and Rene had also raced over to see what was the matter. “Don’t scream like you’re getting killed unless you’re getting killed!”

“I _am_ getting killed,” Colette protested. “By young Marinette’s designs. They simply _kill_ me!”

“Ugh,” Marc groaned and walked out.

Rene called Colette a rather rude name, she replied in kind, and Rene followed Marc out.

Marinette snatched her sketchpad back from Colette. “Sorry about the trouble, A-A-Aaadrieeen . . .” Her voice trailed off, and her face went kind of slack, and she wasn’t looking him in the face but was staring at his chest where he still hadn’t buttoned his shirt.

The other woman who was standing there, Marie, laughed and took Adrien by the shoulders, turning him around and pushing him out of the women’s area. “Thanks for your concern, Adrien, but maybe you should leave before you give poor Marinette an aneurysm.”

“Huh?” Adrien found himself pushed out into the main area between the dressing rooms, very confused about what had just happened. He went back into the men’s area and looked at himself in a mirror to see what Marinette had seen. There was nothing there, only a bit of skin. He remembered her glassy-eyed stare and saw his own face turn pink, the color spreading down to the top part of his chest.

Well. Maybe he _did_ care about someone seeing him partially undressed, after all.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I drew a bit on my own experiences in this chapter. When I was 16, I did a fashion show. Big in terms of actual size, small in terms of we didn't get paid for it. To this day, I don't much care who sees me in my undies. I figure, if a single experience is enough to affect me, what kind of attitude must someone raised in that environment have?


	10. Chapter 10

When he came out of the dressing room, he did not mention the shirt-gap incident. Neither did Marinette.

“Wow,” she said, taking in his outfit. “Very nice. You look really . . . dashing.”

“Thanks,” he said, coming close so other people wouldn’t overhear. “You don’t think it’s a little”—he tugged on the bottom of the vest—“Hawk Moth-y?”

She giggled, then covered the giggle with her hand. “You know, for about a minute there a while back, I actually thought _you_ might—”

“What?”

She waved it away. “Nothing. Never mind. What’s next?”

“Makeup.”

“Makeup?”

“Yep.”

“But you’re . . .”

He raised an eyebrow for her to continue.

“A boy?”

“Is that a question?”

“No! You’re definitely a boy. I mean, you’re very pretty, and I’m sure you’d be pretty with makeup, but I didn’t—um—eeeh . . .” Her words faded away, and her eyes trailed off into the sky like she was hoping he’d do the same and forget they were having a conversation.

He smirked. She thought he was pretty. Of course, he knew he was pretty. He was paid to be pretty. But it was still nice to know she thought so.

That probably explained the chest-staring thing. Maybe she didn’t see a lot of boy’s chests, and he was pretty, so she got distracted. That didn’t mean it _meant_ anything.

“Thanks,” he said, heading off in the direction of the makeup trailer. “I think you’re pretty, too.”

The makeup trailer was small and had two seats facing the mirror. One of the female models was already in the other seat, so the only place for Marinette to sit was a stool shoved way off into one corner. Even then, she had to tuck her feet up on the rung to get them out of the way as the hair and makeup people moved around.

He sat quietly and patiently as Jean-Claude did his makeup and then Josephine did his hair. Every time he looked in the mirror to where Marinette was sitting, she was alternately watching the work with interest and scribbling in her sketchpad. When he was done, he went over to her. “How do I look?”

“Weird,” she said. “I mean— _good_ weird. But not normal. Which isn’t to say _ab_ normal.”

He laughed. “We have to wear makeup for things to look right on camera. I’m used to it, but I can’t say I like it. It feels gross, to be honest. I’ll never understand why so many girls _choose_ to wear this stuff every day.”

As soon as they left the trailer, Natalie was there. “They’re ready for you.” She led the way to where a photographer and some lighting guys were set up at the side of a building. Before they reached them, Natalie stopped beside a director’s chair which had been pushed out of the way against a wall. “Marinette, you can watch from here. Please try not to move from this spot unless you absolutely have to, and if you do, you can speak to that man”—she pointed to one of the P.A.s—“about what you need. Either Adrien or myself will come and get you when they’re done here.”

Marinette climbed into the chair, which Adrien was pleased to see did have a good view of the place they’d be shooting. “Thank you. I won’t move.”

Adrien had wondered if being watched by the girl he loved would make him self-conscious, but it ended up having the opposite effect. He worked even harder to give the camera his best poses and angles. Trying to impress her, maybe. Trying to make her proud of him.

The makeup was a mask too, in a way. And while it didn’t give him superpowers, he could feel a little of the confidence he had as Cat Noir coming out.

Until they were finished with that session and sent him back to change into his next outfit. When he went over to get Marinette, a wave of self-consciousness made him almost trip over his own feet.

“You are _so cool_!” Marinette told him.

The sudden fit of self-consciousness eased. “Thanks. That’s what I was going for.” _Hmm_. Maybe it was the cat ears that made Cat Noir come across as a goofball.

They did two more sessions before lunch, when Adrien had to change back into his own clothes to eat. After they got their food, they sat at a fold-out table with Javier, Marie, and Colette.

“Enjoying yourself, Marinette?” Marie asked.

Marinette was practically bouncing in her seat. “This is amazing! I’m so excited, I can hardly eat.”

“Well, I’m starved,” said Javier. “It may not look it, but modeling is hard work.”

“I can tell! Everything is so complicated! I’ve seen Adrien doing some of his small shoots, and it all looked super easy. He was even wearing his regular clothes. But all this, it’s a whole other level and—oh, sorry, I’m rambling.”

 _Some_? He knew he’d seen her at the park once when he was there on a shoot, but what other shoots of his had she watched? “Oh, those? Those are just for my Instagram photos.”

“Huh?” Marinette asked.

“My Instagram account. The one Father set up for me. Have to have a social media presence.” He rolled his eyes. “Natalie runs it, but they have to have photos to post, so they send me out to take some ‘candid’ shots pretty regularly.”

Marinette pulled out her phone and gazed forlornly at it. “Natalie runs it?”

“My agent runs mine,” said Javier.

“My sister runs mine,” said Colette.

“Is all social media a lie?” Marinette lamented.

Marie laughed. “Pretty much, yeah.”

Adrien grinned. “You don’t think Ladybug runs her own Instagram account, do you?”

“Ladybug is on Instagram!?” Marinette nearly shouted.

Adrien took out his phone and pulled it up to show her. Marinette gaped in horror. “That’s not—”

“Between you and me,” he said in a whisper loud enough for the whole table to hear, “I think Chloe runs it. You know she’s Ladybug’s biggest fan.”

Marinette started sputtering in outrage.

“Ah, Ladybug,” Javier sighed. “I wonder if she has a boyfriend. You think she likes models?”

“Come on, dude,” Marie said. “She’s gotta be, like, ten years younger than you at least.”

“You don’t know that. Maybe she’s petite.”

No one else noticed how uncomfortable Marinette had suddenly gotten. She was moving food around her plate with her fork and curled in on herself.

“So you guys liked Marinette’s designs?” Adrien said.

As he expected, Colette gave a squeal. “I love them! The girl has real talent.”

“Yeah,” Marie said. “They were really good.”

Colette nodded. “I bet Gabriel would love them.”

Marinette started. “What? No, they’re not—”

“Adrien!” Colette reached across the table to poke him in the shoulder. “Go introduce Marinette to your dad and get him to look at her designs.”

“No, Adrien, you don’t have to do that. I’m not prepared—”

“I think that’s a great idea.” Adrien got up and offered Marinette his hand. “Come on.”

“What? No way. I’m just a kid. He’ll think they’re stupid.”

“Do you trust me?”

Marinette looked up at him, and slowly the panic gave way to a smile. Then she nodded and took his hand.

He really wanted to keep holding her hand, but walking through the whole set holding hands with a girl was a great way to get both of them trending all over the internet, so he let go once she was on her feet.

They found Gabriel Agreste standing and talking with some of the photographers. Adrien knew from experience that interrupting him would not put his father in a good mood, so he stood a little ways off and waited. Gabriel glanced at him, so Adrien knew he knew he wanted something.

After a couple minutes, Marinette whispered to him, “Your dad’s very busy. We should probably go.”

“It’s okay. When he’s done talking to those people, he might have a minute for us.” Probably not, but given how obviously they were waiting, he hoped that his dad wouldn’t want to be so overtly rude as to ignore them completely.

Sure enough, after another few minutes, the photographers went away and Gabriel signaled Adrien over. “Was there something you wanted, son?”

“Only to introduce you to my friend, Marinette. Thanks for letting her come today.”

Since Gabriel didn’t offer a handshake, Marinette waved. “Hi again, Mr. Agreste. Ah! I mean—Hi, Mr. Agreste, who I am meeting for the first time right now.”

One corner of Gabriel’s mouth curled up. “Marinette. I trust you’re keeping yourself out of the way.”

“Yes, sir! I’m just happy to be here. This is all so neat!”

“You’ve been watching Adrien’s sessions, yes?”

“Yep!”

“He’s radiant, isn’t he?”

“Father!” Adrien yelped at the same time that Marinette said, “He sure is.”

“And the designs? What do you think of them?”

“They’re so cool! Elegant and modern, but with a—well, a sort of edge.”

“I’m delighted you approve,” Gabriel deadpanned. “I understand you want to be a designer.”

“She _is_ a designer,” Adrien said. “She won the derby hat competition at school. Don’t you remember? You judged it.”

“Ah, yes. The hat that took four times longer than usual to get photos of because Adrien is allergic to feathers. How could I forget?”

Adrien could see that little barb hit home, so he defended her. “That was our fault. We should have mentioned my allergy from the start. Besides, you knew about that and still picked that one as the winner.”

“Because it was the best design,” Gabriel said smoothly.

“You could have just taken the feather out,” Marinette said in a small voice.

“No,” Gabriel said. “Your instincts there were correct. The feather was a necessary element to the design.”

Adrien wanted to roll his eyes but held himself back. Was his dad chastising her for the feather thing or not? “She brought more of her designs. Would you take a look at them?”

“Oh?” Gabriel looked down his nose at her in that way he did. “Would you like me to do that, Marinette?”

For a second, Adrien thought Marinette might back off, but then she stiffened her back and offered the sketchpad with both hands. “I’d be honored, sir.”

Gabriel hummed and took the book. His face betrayed no reaction whatsoever as he flipped through it. To fill the silence, Adrien said, “Colette and Marie loved her designs.”

“Who?” Gabriel asked absently.

“Two of the models. You’ve been using both of them for years.”

“Oh, yes.” And that was all Gabriel had to say about that.

Adrien saw Marinette’s surprise and shrugged.

Finally, something caused a reaction in his father. Gabriel’s eyes widened a little, his eyebrows creeping up, and his lips began to form an amused smile. “I see, Marinette, that we share some commonalities in inspiration.”

Marinette made a confused sound, then her eyes went wide. “Oh, no! I forgot those were in there!”

Overwhelmed by curiosity, Adrien moved around so he could see the pages his dad was flipping through. His mouth fell open in awe. The pages were full of superhero-inspired modern designs. A ladybug cocktail dress. A black cat skateboard-style outfit. A fox-like business suit. She even had a butterfly-themed jacket and pieces that made him think of a peacock and a turtle. There were even more, smaller pictures among the bigger ones, rough sketches, which hinted at a wide range of other animals.

Where had she gotten all those ideas from? Some of them were obvious, but there were others that looked like they were based on no superhero they’d ever seen, but Adrien had a vague idea that he’d seen something sort of like them someplace before . . .

Gabriel closed the sketchpad and handed it back to her. “Your designs are good. For a girl your age, they’re excellent.” He cast a considering look between Adrien and Marinette that made Adrien a little nervous, but Gabriel was almost-sorta smiling. “Not a bad choice, son,” he said at a volume meant only for Adrien.

Adrien absolutely hated it—hated that he cared at all what his dad thought—but his heart swelled with pleasure at Gabriel’s approval. Even through his embarrassment that his dad had figured out Marinette was the girl he’d been asking advice about before (although, now that he thought of it, he _was_ being pretty obvious), he beamed his thanks at the praise.

Gabriel checked his watch. “Lunch break is over. You’d better get ready for your next session.”

They headed back to the dressing room, Marinette bouncing and skipping beside Adrien and hugging the sketchpad to her chest. “He said my designs are excellent! Gabriel Agreste said my designs are excellent!”

“Father has good taste,” Adrien agreed. He rode the high of his father’s approval all the way back to the dressing room, but when they entered the central area, he remembered his previous curiosity. He took a quick look and saw that no one else appeared to be in the tent yet, then asked, “Where did you get ideas for all those different designs? The superhero ones, I mean. Obviously, I understand the Ladybug and Cat Noir ones, and even the fox and butterfly ones, but there were all those others. What made you think of them?”

She laughed nervously. “Oh, it just . . . made sense. Other superheroes based on other animals.” Then she got a pained look and bit her lip. “No. Wait. It wasn’t. I don’t want to lie to you again. Now that”—she leaned close and whispered—“you know I’m Ladybug, I guess I can tell you the truth.” Even though they were alone, she stayed close enough that he could feel her breath on his cheek. “When you took that book your dad had, Tikki saw it and said it was important. She made me get it.”

“What?!” Adrien cried. “ _You_ took it?”

“Shh! No! I mean, yes. Lila took it from you, but she tossed it in the trash when she didn’t need it anymore, and I took it out of the trash. It’s a secret, one-of-a-kind book about Miraculouses. I took it to, uh, someone who could understand it. He made a copy, and then I brought the book back to your father.”

“He only told me a classmate found it and brought it back. You had it all that time?”

“Yes. Adrien, I’m so sorry. I wanted to give it back, but it was too important.”

“I understand.” It hurt that she’d hidden it from him. If she hadn’t been able to bring it back, he’d have been forbidden from going back to school at all. But he understood. “I didn’t get much time to look at it before it was stolen, but now that I think of it, there were a bunch of different types of superheroes. That’s where you got the design ideas from, isn’t it?”

“Yes.”

“That’s what Father meant about shared inspiration.”

“I know you must hate me. I’m so sorry! But I couldn’t—”

“You couldn’t tell me at the time. I get it. And I don’t hate you.” He smiled to show he meant it, but it quickly fell as another thought occurred to him. “Why would my dad have a book about Miraculouses? And why would he keep it locked in a hidden safe?”

“Well, at first we thought—” She stopped, but he knew what she was going to say.

“Go ahead.”

“That . . . your father was Hawk Moth.”

“But he can’t be, because—”

“He was akumatized, right.”

“I wonder how he got the book.”

“I asked him when I returned it. He said he got it on a trip, as a . . . a gift from your mother.”

The thought of his mother sent a pang through Adrien’s heart. “So it’s a coincidence?”

“Coincidence? That you know me and your father has a book about Miraculouses? I guess it must be.”

“Oh. Right. Yeah, that’s the coincidence I meant.” His father had a secret book about Miraculouses that was so important Ladybug’s kwami made her practically steal it from him, her friend, even knowing his freedom was at stake. What did it mean?

They were out of time to talk about it, though. More people came in, and Adrien had to get back to work.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Even though I'd seen every episode (on Netflix) twice by the time I wrote this, and I re-watched all of season one as I wrote it, I still never picked up on the "Gabriel never leaves his house" thing until I re-watched 2.01 (after finishing this fic). *shrug* It's too ingrained in this story to change. I wonder if that's literally true in the show, though, or if it's an exaggeration.


	11. Chapter 11

The rest of the day was so busy that Adrien didn’t have much time to talk to Marinette. He kept an eye on her though, to make sure she was being treated well and always had a good view of what was going on. When he glanced over, more often than not he saw her chatting and laughing with one of the crew or a model who hadn’t been scheduled for as many sessions as Adrien. She was so kind and personable. Friendliness radiated out of her and drew people to her. She could choose to be friends—to spend time—with anyone. He was so lucky that she chose to spend as much as she did with him.

His last session of the day was a group session with four other guys, so of course it was more complicated and took way longer than a solo session. Which was why they saved it for last. They made good time, though, and got done ten minutes ahead of the scheduled five p.m. end time. When the lead photographer called a wrap on the shoot, Marinette applauded loudly for a few seconds before trailing off as she noticed no one else was doing it. He went over to her, smiling. “Thanks. We did good, huh?”

“You guys looked so awesome! I mean, you looked the best, of course, but the other guys all looked great, too.”

“Haha, thanks.”

Javier came up behind him. “What’d you think of your first photoshoot, Marinette?”

“It was amazing! I’m so pumped and inspired, I think I’ll be up all night!”

Javier laughed. “Not me. I’m wiped. I’m gonna go home, put on some sweatpants, and veg in front of the TV until I pass out. But you know . . .” His voice took on a playful tone.

“What?” asked Adrien.

“There are technically still ten minutes left in the shoot. You could try to get some of those couple shots I mentioned.”

“What?!” Marinette went pale.

“That,” Adrien said, a slow grin spreading over his face, “is a great idea. What do you say, Marinette? You’ve been watching us all day. Want to try it out yourself?”

“Me?” she squeaked. “In couple photos? With Adrien?”

“Is that okay? You don’t have to.”

“I’ll do it!” she shouted, coming to attention like a soldier. “Yes, please!”

“Good,” said Javier. Then he grabbed the closest female model. “Hey, Emily. We need a quick change. We’ve got ten minutes to get Marinette and Adrien in some couple shots. I’ll talk to the photographer while you find her an outfit and get her changed.”

Despite being obviously tired, Emily squealed in delight, grabbed Marinette’s wrist, and dragged her off.

Adrien grinned at Javier. “Thanks, man.”

Javier winked. “I got your back.”

They still had the lighting stuff set up at a large, elegant stoop: five steps leading up to a porch with columns. Adrien waited there, assuming that Emily would pick an outfit to match what he already had on, which was a sort of half-casual, half-formal thing with tailored slacks and a dress shirt with the top button undone and the sleeves rolled to his elbows. Three minutes later, Emily appeared, dragging a harried Marinette behind her. Marinette was beautiful, of course, in a lacy tunic blouse with leggings.

“Good, you’re here,” said the photographer.

“Hold up.” Jean-Claude stepped in front of Marinette, taking her chin in his hand and turning it right and left. “You must let me fix this.”

“Jean-Claude, we don’t have time,” Adrien told him.

“Give me two minutes.”

It would only take more time to argue with him, so they all waited impatiently as Jean-Claude opened the makeup kit he was holding and worked his magic. The result was a few small changes which Adrien could tell would really make Marinette’s blue eyes and rosy lips pop in the photos.

Emily practically shoved Marinette up the stoop, and even though Marinette was wearing flats, she still stumbled and fell into Adrien’s arms.

He heard the click of a shutter. It was _on_.

They didn’t have time to set up the perfect shots, so the photographer clicked like mad and barked orders at them. Marinette was so stiff for the first minute that half the onlookers kept shouting instructions for her to loosen up. Javier shouted a suggestion that kissing her might loosen her up, and Adrien was certainly all for trying it, but Marinette’s face had gone so red that he didn’t dare try.

He didn’t want their first kiss to be rushed an in front of an audience, anyway.

Instead, when she wasn’t expecting it, he swung her around until her back hit the support column, then leaned in close, his right hand still on her arm, his left forearm braced above her head, and his nose half an inch from hers, and grinned at the surprise on her face. After a second, she smiled back—not stiff this time, but shy and adorable. And so Adrien discovered that as long as he kept Marinette moving and surprised, she didn’t have time to get self-conscious. He swung her from position to position, careful not to accidentally smack her head against something. She stumbled a few times, but he caught her, and the stumbling made them laugh. It was funny how clumsy she was without the strength, speed, and agility that her costume gave her. If she were Ladybug right now instead of Marinette, he’d never be able to keep her off-guard like this, even for a few minutes.

Someone called out a warning on time, and Adrien spun Marinette around and pulled her tight in front of him, her back to his chest, wrapping his arms around her waist so she couldn’t escape. He stuck his nose in her hair, grinning at the scent, closing his eyes to savor the smell and feel of her.

“Five o’clock,” someone shouted. “That’s a wrap.”

Reality crashed down around Adrien. Model-Adrien’s time was up. He was regular-Adrien again. And regular-Adrien had his face buried in Marinette’s hair and his arms locked tight around her. Marinette, his friend. Not his girlfriend. His friend, who liked some other boy.

Carefully and nonchalantly, he pulled away and released her. He gave a nervous chuckle. “Sorry about that, Marinette. I guess I got a little carried away. The camera does weird things to me, huh?” _You do weird things to me._

The laugh she returned was equally nervous. “No, it’s fine. That was, uh, intense.” She still hadn’t turned to face him.

“I had to loosen you up somehow.”

“Heh heh, yeah, I guess so.”

“We’d . . . better get back to the dressing rooms so we can get you home.”

“Y-yeah.” She started walking down the steps of the stoop, and Adrien followed on her right side and about one step behind. Suddenly, her foot slipped and, with a cry, she flung her hand out, grabbing for something to stop her fall. Adrien’s left hand shot out to grab hers, but he had one foot in the air, taking a step down, so he didn’t have the leverage to stop her fall. She twisted, falling, and her grip on his hand tightened.

Pain screamed through his wrist, so intense that he couldn’t breathe, and he stumbled down the steps after Marinette. She twisted to take the impact on her thigh and hip, and let go of Adrien’s hand in time for him to land on his side, where it hurt momentarily but wouldn’t do damage. Hands reached to help them up, and soon they were both on their feet.

“Are you okay, Marinette?” he asked even as pain shot up his arm.

“Just bumps and bruises. I’m sorry, Adrien. I am _so_ clumsy.”

He tried to move his wrist and hissed in pain.

“Oh, no!” Marinette shouted. “Adrien, you’re hurt! I’m so sorry! I shouldn’t have grabbed you!”

“No, I’m glad you did. If you hadn’t, you might have gotten hurt worse.” Adrien heard someone call for a medic and more concerned voices as people crowded around him. He looked past them to see his father notice the commotion and start over. “She didn’t grab me,” he hissed urgently at the people around him. “Got it? I tripped and knocked us both down. This is my fault.” He could see the understanding in their eyes, but Marinette didn’t seem to get it.

“What are you talking about, Adrien? This is my fault.”

“No,” he insisted. “Father can’t know that, or he won’t let you come again. He might not even let me hang out with you anymore.”

Her eyes widened with surprise, then grew tense with guilt. “Okay,” she said reluctantly.

“Come on.” Emily put an arm around Marinette’s shoulders. “We’d probably better get you out of those clothes. We can tell the wardrobe mistress they got damaged when you fell on accident. They probably won’t care since the shoot’s over. But it’s still best not to let Gabriel see it.”

Adrien could tell Marinette didn’t want to leave him, so he ignored the pain and gave her an encouraging smile. “Go on. It’ll be fine.”

Emily took Marinette away, and the medic arrived. “All right, let me see it,” the man said.

Adrien held out his wrist, wincing as the medic gently manipulated it.

“What’s going on here?” Gabriel demanded as he broke through the circle of people around Adrien. “Adrien’s injured? What happened?”

“I tripped and fell down the stairs,” Adrien said.

“Does anything else hurt?” asked the medic.

“No. I landed kinda hard, but nothing else hurts like it’s injured.”

Gabriel tossed some hard looks around. “How did this happen?”

“We were getting a few last-minute shots,” said the photographer. “He wanted to take some with his friend before we ran out of time.”

“Marinette,” Gabriel growled. “What did she do?”

“Nothing! It was my fault, Father!”

The photographer nodded. “He tripped and knocked them both down the stairs. It happened fast, and no one was close enough to catch them.”

“Is that true?” Gabriel asked Javier.

“Yes, sir,” Javier said. “That’s what happened.” Everyone else nodded.

 _Thank you_ , Adrien thought fervently.

Gabriel let out a low, displeased sound. “How bad is it?”

“I don’t think it’s broken,” said the medic. “You’ll want to take him to the hospital to get it x-rayed, but my guess is it’s only a sprain.”

Gabriel gave one curt nod. “Natalie.” She was at his side in an instant. “Take Adrien to the hospital for a wrist x-ray immediately, and make sure the doctor checks that nothing else was injured.”

“Yes, Mr. Agreste. This way, Adrien.”

“Wait, what about Marinette?” Adrien protested. “We have to take her home.”

“If she meets you at the car, you can drop her off on the way,” Gabriel said. “But you’re not to wait for her, understand? Someone else can take her home if she’s late.”

“Yes, Father,” Adrien said and followed Natalie. He was honestly surprised Gabriel hadn’t demanded she find her own way home. Marinette must have made a really good impression on his dad.

Considering how everyone lied to protect her, she’d made a really good impression on everyone. Adrien wasn’t surprised. She had that effect on people.

Marinette got to the limo just as Adrien and Natalie reached it, so she was allowed to climb in with them.

“I’m _so_ sorry, Adrien,” she pleaded.

Adrien shot her a look that begged for silence, tilting his head subtly toward Natalie’s interested expression.

“So sorry that this happened to you,” Marinette amended. “You should have landed on me so I could cushion your fall.”

Adrien gave a surprised snort of laughter. “Yeah, and then I could explain to Alya how you’re not in class because I crushed you to death. Are you trying to get me killed?”

“ _Pfft_. You’re not that heavy. I’m sure I could live through you being on top of me.” Then her jaw dropped and her face turned pink. “I didn’t mean what that sounded like.” She turned toward the car door. “Uh, are we here? I think we’re here.” She started pawing at it like she meant to open it and dive out.

Natalie pressed the child lock.

Adrien laughed. “Marinette, calm down. I’ll be fine. The medic thinks it’s only a sprain.”

“Oh. Good.” Marinette sat slumped down and not looking at him until they reached her house.

“Thanks for coming today,” he said as she climbed out of the car. “I had fun.”

When she was out, she paused to look back at him. “Even though you got maimed?”

“Yes.”

She smiled nervously. “I had fun, too. Thanks for inviting me.”

“I’ll send you the pics when I get them.”

She blushed for some reason, then nodded and went inside.

As it turned out, it _was_ only a sprain, though a pretty bad one. The doctor said it would take several weeks to heal, which Adrien’s father was _not_ happy about.

Around eight that evening, Adrien sat in his room, checking his e-mail. He had to type one-handed because his left wrist hurt so bad. They’d given him a brace to keep it from moving and some pain meds, both of which helped, but the pain was still there.

He had five new e-mails, including one from the photographer with a link to a Dropbox folder. Adrien scrolled through several dozen photos of him and his lady love. Some were terrible, caught mid-blink or with weird expressions or didn’t even catch their faces. Some were okay. And seven were . . . absolute perfection.

He downloaded them all, e-mailed the good ones to Marinette, and then clicked through them back and forth over and over again. Him and Marinette, laughing, smiling, embracing. And that last one, when he had his face in her hair. He could see her expression now. She was surprised, but not weirded-out surprised.

She was smiling.

His wrist throbbed in pain.

 _Worth it_.


	12. Chapter 12

At eleven p.m. that evening, Adrien lay in his bed, awake. He was tired from the day, but the pain in his wrist was making it hard to sleep, and he couldn’t stop thinking of Marinette. He’d been going over things that happened before he’d known she was Ladybug. Opportunities he’d missed out on. Experiences he’d failed to give proper notice.

At the moment, he was lying with his eyes closed, remembering when he’d slow-danced with her at Chloe’s party. It had been fun. Enjoyable. But if only he’d known it was Ladybug he held. Taking photos today with her had been amazing, but it had all been so hectic and fleeting. When he’d danced with her, it had been full minutes of uninterrupted closeness. He focused on trying to remember the details of it. What her waist had felt like under his hands. What her arms had felt like around his neck. The feel of his cheek pressed against her hair and her cheek on his chest.

He tried so hard, but he couldn’t quite remember. At the time, he hadn’t considered it information worth making any special effort to store in his brain.

He would need to find an opportunity to slow dance with her again—and this time, take in every minuscule detail.

His mind circled round and round with these thoughts, so he was awake when faint screams drifted through his window on the wind.

The sound jerked him out of his thoughts and had him leaping to his feet before he could think. Pain shot through his wrist so sharply that he stumbled before staggering his way to his TV. There was a special report on the news. Another supervillain. Adrien went to his window, and while he could still hear faint screams, it was all too far away for him to see anything, so he went to the TV to see what was going on.

Nadia Chamack was standing on a street corner as a crowd of people approached. In the lead strode a man dressed in slacks and a waistcoat with no shirt under it. It left the skin of his arms, shoulders, and much of his chest bare, along with his face and neck. Skin that gleamed bronze—nearly gold—and in the darkness of the night seemed to glow from within. He had black hair and bright, shining blue eyes. He was beautiful and terrifying. And definitely a supervillain.

The crowd behind him followed in his wake as if sleepwalking, never taking their eyes off of him. Some of the people between him and the camera were running away, but if one of them stopped to look back, they instantly became enthralled and joined the crowd. There was something in his hand, which he would sometimes point at someone, and they would break away from the crowd, usually to capture and hold one of the people trying to flee, turning the person to face the villain—and then the person would stop fighting and join the crowd.

“It’s unknown at this time what the villain known as Supermodel wants,” Nadia was saying to the camera, “but he’s amassing quite the crowd of followers and appears to be heading steadily toward some unknown destination.”

Supermodel kept getting closer, and the camera zoomed in on his face right as he looked directly into the lens.

Adrien’s jaw dropped in horror. “Javier?! What in the world?”

The camera zoomed back out, and Nadia began to turn toward Supermodel. “Let’s see if we can get a statement from the villain about what he . . .” Then her eyes landed on the villain and became glassy, a silly grin spreading over her face. “So beautiful . . .” she breathed.

Supermodel had seen the camera and was approaching.

“Nadia?” whispered the cameraman. “ _Pst_. Nadia. What are you doing? We’re live.”

Supermodel came up beside Nadia, so beautiful and radiant that he was almost painful to look at. The camera held steady on him, though, even as he laid a hand on Nadia’s shoulder like a master imparting some favor on a servant. “Hello, my beautiful Nadia.” Then he spoke directly to camera. “You wish to know what I want. Only to bring beauty to the world—and to destroy a man who sullies its name. Gabriel Agreste. Come, friends, and help me destroy him.”

For a moment, the camera shifted—and then it fell to the ground with a crash, leaving only a view of Supermodel’s perfect, gleaming bare feet before he walked out of frame.

Adrien groaned in frustration. His father must have said something horrible to Javier for some reason Adrien couldn’t even begin to guess, and it made Javier sad or angry or bitter enough to become susceptible to Hawk Moth’s akuma. And now this Supermodel was coming straight for the Agreste mansion. Adrien was sure of that, because the screams were getting closer.

“Great. Just great.”

Plagg floated in the air beside him, not looking very concerned. “So, Mr. Prettyboy is coming to storm the place. What are you gonna do?”

“What do you mean? The same thing I always do.”

“With a bum wrist?”

“I don’t have a choice. Plagg, claws—”

The door to his room flew open with a bang and Natalie rushed in. “Adrien, wake up!”

“I’m awake,” Adrien said, drawing her attention to where he sat in front of the TV. Plagg ducked into the front pocket of his pajama shirt.

Natalie herded him toward the door. “We need to get you to safety.”

“A villain’s coming. I saw the news. Where is Father?”

For a couple seconds after he asked that, Natalie looked very cagey and wouldn’t meet Adrien’s eyes. Then she continued to shuffle him down the hall and said, “He’s . . . out. As luck would have it, he’s not home tonight.”

“Why not? Where is he?”

“Um, urgent business meeting.”

“In the middle of the night?”

“Yes. Now come on, we must get you to safety. The villain isn’t after you, but we don’t want you caught in the crossfire.”

His bodyguard joined them on the way to the atrium, and they rushed him inside, the door sliding shut behind them. Natalie opened a computer panel in the wall, and the mansion’s security system engaged. Metal barricades slammed shut over the large windows, and screens appeared, showing views of the cameras all over the mansion.

Natalie sighed. “There. We should be safe in here.”

“For how long?” Adrien asked.

“Once Supermodel realizes Mr. Agreste isn’t home, he should leave to search elsewhere.”

“Unless Ladybug and Cat Noir stop him first.”

“Of course. If they show up, this may be over sooner.”

On a regular TV screen, Natalie turned on the news. There weren’t reporters on the scene anymore, so it was left to the anchors to guess at what was going on.

“Natalie,” Adrien said, “I recognized the villain. It’s Javier. And now he’s out to get Father. What did Father do?”

An apologetic wince crossed Natalie’s face for a moment before she schooled her expression into neutral professionalism. “He discovered that taking extra photos, the ones that got you injured, was Javier’s idea. Mr. Agreste was angry about your injury and . . . well, you know how he can get.”

“He took it out on Javier?”

She didn’t say no.

“But it wasn’t his fault! I _wanted_ to—You know what, it doesn’t matter now.” The atrium had its own full bathroom. Adrien walked to it. “I’m going to take a shower.”

“Now?”

“It’s helps me relax. You said we’re safe in here, right?”

“Yes, but—”

“Good. I might be a while. You probably shouldn’t check on me.” He went inside and locked the door before Natalie could question him further.

When he transformed, the brace on his wrist disappeared. He moved the wrist a little until a sharp twinge of pain stopped him. Shoot. He’d hoped Plagg’s magic might somehow stop the pain or at least give him the support the brace had, but it looked like that wasn’t going to happen. He’d just have to stop a supervillain one-handed tonight. Without Ladybug catching on to his injury. No sweat.

He opened the window and got up on the roof without too much difficulty. He’d come around the back, and when he got to the front, he saw Ladybug standing on one of the front roof peaks.

“Fancy meeting you here, Milady.”

She turned to him, all business. “Cat Noir, good, you’re here. Did you see the news?”

“Supermodel’s coming for Gabriel Agreste, yeah.” He almost told her Gabriel wasn’t here, but there’d be no reason for Cat Noir to know that yet.

Ladybug opened her yo-yo to use the telescope function, and he took the cue and did the same with his stick. “He’s only about a half-mile out,” she observed. “We don’t have long, and that mob’s getting bigger every minute.”

“Looks like they’ve already locked the place down.” He nodded toward the thick metal shields. “We should go out to meet Supermodel before he gains even more thralls.”

“Thralls?”

Cat Noir shrugged. “He enthralls them. Like how vampires can mind-control people into being their devoted servants. That’s what it looked like.”

Ladybug considered that. “You’re right. And it happens so quickly.” She kept watching through the telescopic yo-yo. “I can’t tell how he’s doing it.”

“From what I saw on the news, he’s not doing anything. People look at him, and that’s it. Mind-zombie.”

“So we have to fight him without looking at him? How are we supposed to do that?”

“Hmm,” he mused, an idea forming. “You ever read about Medusa?”

“You want to fight him with mirrors?”

“Please. This is the twenty-first century. I think we can come up with something a little more high-tech. Give me a minute to see what I can scrounge.” He headed for the nearest window, but she grabbed his arm.

“Wait, Cat Noir. My friend, the—the one who knows about me. He lives here.”

“Adrien Agreste, I know. We’ve done this whole ‘siege on the Agreste mansion’ thing before, remember? But don’t worry about him, Ladybug. I’m sure he’s safe.”

“That’s not my point. He lives here. He’ll know where anything is we can use. It’ll be faster than you rummaging around and hoping to get lucky.”

It really wouldn’t, but she didn’t give him time to argue.

“You stay out here and keep a lookout.” She went past him toward the window. “I’ll find Adrien and get his help.” And then she was inside.

Cat Noir groaned and slapped his good hand over his face. And then he double-timed it back to the atrium bathroom.

When Adrien came out after his “shower”, Natalie and his bodyguard were watching screens. Ladybug flitted from screen to screen, running through the mansion.

“Is she coming _here_?” Natalie asked.

“She was here when Simon Says attacked,” Adrien reminded her. “She knows the atrium’s the safe place we’d retreat to.”

In less than a minute, Ladybug was outside the atrium door, pounding to be let in. “It’s Ladybug! Please open! I need your help!”

Adrien strode to the door, ignoring Natalie’s protests, and hit the switch to open it. “Hi, Ladybug. It’s good to see you. Is Cat Noir with you?”

She nodded. “He’s on the roof. We’re going to fight Supermodel, but we need something, and we’re hoping you can help us get it.”

“Sure. Whatever I can do.”

“Adrien!” Natalie called. “Get back here!”

“Won’t be long!” he called back. His bodyguard grabbed for him, but Adrien ran out of his reach, out into the hall, and shut the door behind him, locking it. “Better hurry,” he said, but they were already running. By the time his guardians got the door open again, they were down the hallway and around a corner.

Briefly, Ladybug explained what they needed, but Adrien was already leading them where they needed to go. “Natalie says Father isn’t even here. He’s off at a business meeting,” he said as they ran.

“In the middle of the night?”

“I can’t even begin to guess why my father does things sometimes.” They arrived at a storage room. “This is where we keep the sports equipment.” The explanation really wasn’t necessary, since the room was full of skis and tennis rackets and other stuff they hadn’t used in years. He searched the shelves for the storage container he wanted. “You recognized Supermodel, didn’t you?”

Ladybug’s eyes widened and flitted to the tops of the walls, looking for cameras.

“It’s okay; this room isn’t monitored on the security system. It’s not important enough.”

She let out a breath and nodded. “Poor Javier. I wonder what happened.”

“My father happened. This isn’t the first time he’s gotten someone akumatized, but . . .” He shook his head. “It’s partly my fault. He was angry because of this.” He held up his left wrist and the brace covering it. “And he found out the photos were Javier’s idea.”

Ladybug gasped, and Adrien realized too late that he shouldn’t have said anything. “This is my fault,” she said. “You got hurt because of me, not Javier.”

He found what he was looking for, stood, and laid a hand on her shoulder. “It’s probably just as well he didn’t know what really happened. If he’d taken it out on you, you’d have been the one upset, and Hawk Moth would have tried to akumatize you.”

“And failed, because of my Miraculous. Which he might have known meant I’m Ladybug.” She shook off the bad feelings and put strength back into her words. “This supervillain isn’t Javier’s fault or even your dad’s. I’ve caused my share of akuma victims too, but it’s only Hawk Moth who makes them supervillains. He sends the akumas. No one else.”

“You’re right.” He wasn’t sure how she managed it, but Marinette had upset more than a few people and made them prey for akumas. But it was a lot easier to forgive her for that than his father. At least _she_ was always sorry for it. “Here.”

She took the two devices from him. “Are these night vision goggles?”

“Yeah.”

“Why are they with your sports equipment?”

“You haven’t played paintball until you’ve played it at night in the woods.” He winked. “When I was watching the news, it looked like the cameraman wasn’t affected right away. I think he was probably looking through the camera lens—and then he must have looked up, and that’s when Supermodel’s power got him. These are basically little cameras that record what you’re seeing and project it on screens right in front of your eyes. They should work the same way as a full-size film camera.”

“You’re so smart, Adrien.”

“Thanks.” He heard the loud stampede of his bodyguard running past the door, looking for him. “Uh, we should probably get back.”

They ran back to the atrium, and Ladybug waited until Adrien, his bodyguard, and Natalie were all locked safely inside. As soon as the door shut, Adrien raced for the bathroom.

“Adrien, what are you doing?” Natalie called somewhat desperately.

He didn’t stop but yelled over his shoulder. “Super stressed! Need another shower!” The bathroom door closed and locked, and he transformed and got to the roof an instant before Ladybug showed up.


	13. Chapter 13

On the roof of the mansion, Ladybug handed Cat Noir a pair of night vision goggles.

“You know I already have night vision, right?” he said as he put them on.

She was fiddling with hers. “I assume there’s a way to turn that function off and still make them do what we need.”

There was, and he’d already switched his off. He reached over and switched hers.

“Thanks. Ready?”

He nodded, and they took off toward Supermodel, who was now only a couple hundred yards down the road from the mansion. There was no way Cat Noir could do that helicopter move with his stick, since the motion would probably tear his wrist clean off (or feel like it), but he managed to do the pole vault thing until he could get to a building and run across rooftops.

In the ten seconds it took to reach Supermodel, Cat Noir noted that this was yet another supervillain with the power to control people and that, based on history, his odds were high of getting turned into one of Supermodel’s mindless thralls. Which would mean Ladybug would have to fight _him_ on top of everything else. _And_ he had a bum wrist.

Maybe he should have sat this one out.

But then he was on a rooftop, crouched next to Ladybug, and the time for second-guessing was over. He’d do his best, as always. And if he got taken over, she’d find some way to defeat the villain alone and save the day. He had faith in her. “Okay, Ladybug, what’s the plan?”

She watched Supermodel carefully. He was three stories down and about fifty feet away, leading his ever-growing mob of followers. “He’s got something in his hand.”

Cat Noir used the goggles’ zoom function to get a closer look. “It’s some kind of remote control.”

“Of course! A TV remote! He must have been in front of the TV when the akuma found him.”

Cat Noir returned the zoom level to normal and looked at her, but with so much of their faces covered, he couldn’t see her expression.

“I guess!” she hurried to add.

“Okay, so he’s using the remote to control his thralls. Without the remote, they’re just dazed and following him, but when he points the remote at him, he can get them to do things. That means he’s limited to giving instructions to one at a time.”

“And it must be where the akuma’s hiding.”

“So if we can get the _remote_ , we’ll take _control_ of the situation.”

“You distract him, I’ll grab the remote. Let’s go!”

She swung off to the side, angling to get out of Supermodel’s line of vision, while Cat Noir used his extended stick to lower himself to the street. “Hey, Goldfinger! Nice posse. Can I join?”

Supermodel turned his shining blue eyes to Cat Noir and held his arms out in a welcoming gesture. “Of course, my friend. Beauty belongs to all.”

Cat Noir strolled down the street toward him, twirling his stick in his good hand, holding Supermodel’s attention. “On second thought, never mind. I’m no man’s fanboy.”

Supermodel blinked in confusion, probably wondering why Cat Noir hadn’t become a grinning idiot at the sight of him. Cat Noir leapt forward, closing the distance between them, stick extended into a staff and coming down for a strike. He was holding his left hand close to his body, trying to protect it, so his grip on the stick wasn’t as strong as it should have been. Supermodel backhanded it as Cat Noir brought it down, and the stick spun off and smashed through a window in a nearby building.

Instead of fighting Cat Noir himself, Supermodel pointed the remote at a couple of his thralls, and the two men lunged at Cat Noir. He spun and dipped and kicked, trying not to hurt them too badly, but not letting them get a hand on him. Then two more thralls came at him, and two more. He was so busy getting mobbed that he wasn’t able to get to his stick.

Ladybug’s yo-yo zipped through the air and wrapped around Supermodel’s outstretched forearm as he raised it to command more of his thralls. It jerked hard to one side, yanking Supermodel off his feet. The remote fell out of his hand. Cat Noir dove to grab it, but two thralls got in front of him.

His partner was on the street, struggling to hold Supermodel with her yo-yo and get him subdued. “Cat Noir! Grab the remote!”

“I’m trying!” Four thralls converged on him, but he did a hands-free backflip and landed even further away from the remote. He spared a glance at Supermodel and saw the purple outline over the villain’s face that signaled Hawk Moth was in direct communication with him. Supermodel landed a punch in Ladybug’s stomach, which didn’t seem to hurt her but did cause her yo-yo to lose its grip on his arm. Now free, he rushed to retrieve his remote.

Cat Noir leapt over a thrall, trying to get there first. Then, from out of nowhere, one of the thralls got his hand on Cat Noir’s wrist. Cat Noir screamed as pain lanced through his arm, blinding him momentarily. In that moment of weakness, five thralls grabbed him by his limbs and around his neck. He tried to throw them off, but every time he moved, the one holding his left arm jerked his hand and the pain sucked all the air out of him.

He stopped struggling and went still, hoping that would make them stop pulling at him. It did. When his vision cleared, he saw that Supermodel and Ladybug were close. Too close. And—

 _Oh, no._ Her goggles were off. She must have been distracted by his scream, and Supermodel had knocked her goggles off in the fight. Now she was gazing up at him with a glassy-eyed gaze of awe. Supermodel smiled down at her, his hand brushing her jaw, moving toward her Miraculous.

“No!” Cat Noir screamed. With a burst of strength, he gritted his teeth and pulled his right arm and leg in tight, throwing off the thralls on that side, fighting against the pain that still sent a bolt through his aching wrist. With those limbs free, he had enough leverage to shove the other three thralls off him. He tensed, panting and instinctively cradling his wounded arm, to face his enemy.

Supermodel’s hand hadn’t moved any closer to Ladybug’s earring. The villain was staring at Cat Noir with intense interest, the purple outline glowing over his gleaming skin. Hawk Moth was watching Cat Noir. Hawk Moth knew he was injured. He needed to finish this _now_.

“Get your hands off of her,” Cat Noir growled. Leaping into the air, he came down with his full weight on Supermodel’s shoulder, knocking the villain to his back. Supermodel’s arm was flung out on the ground, but he hadn’t released his grip on the remote. Cat Noir kept one foot planted on the villain’s shoulder and, before Supermodel could throw him off, brought the other foot smashing down onto Supermodel’s clenched fist and the remote gripped within it.

The remote shattered. A black butterfly fluttered out.

Cat Noir looked down to see Supermodel transform into Javier and stepped off of him, then rushed to Ladybug. He pulled off his goggles so she could see him and touched her face. “Ladybug?” But her eyes were still glassy—and now glazed and empty. Not unmoving. Not frozen. Just . . . catatonic. He pressed his finger to her neck, feeling that her pulse was strong. She was breathing. But she wasn’t moving. It was as if she was . . . waiting for someone to tell her what to do.

Cat Noir looked out the hundreds of people who had been Supermodel’s thralls. They were the same. Still and lifeless, but alive.

“No,” he breathed.

“Cat Noir?” Javier said behind him. He was dressed in sweatpants, his arms crossed over his bare chest. “What’s going on?”

“You were a supervillain,” he answered distractedly. In a moment, he saw what he needed. Ladybug’s yo-yo was on the ground. He snatched it up and searched the skies. It was dark, but the streetlights were enough for him to spot the akuma flying away. He ran toward it, tossing the yo-yo into the air . . . but it only came back to him, doing nothing. _I can’t use it._ This was bad. Very bad. He went back to Ladybug, shaking her, touching her face, trying to wake her. “Ladybug, come on. We need you.”

She blinked lazily and smiled as if having a good dream.

“What’s wrong with her?” asked Javier.

“They’re waiting for instructions. From you. From that.” He pointed to the broken remote. “And they can’t be fixed until Ladybug cleanses the akuma.”

“But if she’s . . .”

“Yeah.”

Javier stepped beside Ladybug and said, “Wake up.” But it didn’t work. They were all thralls of Supermodel, not Javier. He turned hopeless eyes on Cat Noir. “What are you gonna do, then?”

Cat Noir took a deep breath and let it out. “Whatever I have to.” He scooped Ladybug into his arms, hooking his left elbow under her knees, far enough up his arm not to cause more pain to his throbbing wrist, and carried her away.

The bakery was quiet, far enough away from his house that the disturbance hadn’t reached them. Cat Noir opened the window to Marinette’s bedroom and laid her gently on her chaise longue. After he closed the window and was as sure as he could be that no one had seen them, he knelt beside her—and took off her earrings.

The transformation magic swept over her, leaving Marinette lying there as if sleeping. Maybe she was. Maybe, in her thoughtless haze, she’d drifted off as he’d held her. Tikki popped into the air, still full of energy since Ladybug hadn’t used her Lucky Charm. “Cat Noir? What’s going on?”

“I failed her, Tikki. I failed to protect her, and now the akuma is free and there’s no one to cleanse it, and Marinette and a bunch of other people are mindless zombies.”

Tikki nuzzled Marinette’s cheek desperately, calling her name. Eventually she realized that wasn’t going to work. “You’re right. The only way to restore Marinette and the others is to cleanse the akuma and use Ladybug’s restoration magic.”

“Marinette is Ladybug,” he said. “But . . . Marinette can’t be Ladybug right now. Marinette _needs_ Ladybug.”

Tikki touched his hand. “You already know what you have to do.”

“Is it the right thing?”

“For right now, I think it has to be.”

Cat Noir took off his ring. “You mind waiting here for a minute, Plagg?” asked Adrien.

Plagg took in the sight before him: Marinette sleeping, her Miraculous in Adrien’s hand, Tikki with a determined but worried expression. “You’re ditching me?!”

“Only temporarily. Will you take care of her, if it comes to it?”

“I don’t like it, but you can count on me, kid. Tikki”—Plagg gave the other kwami a hard look—“you don’t get to keep him.”

Tikki giggled. “Don’t worry. I’ll look out for him.”

Adrien looked at the earrings in his palm. “Uh, Tikki. One problem. I don’t have pierced ears.”

“I’m sure there’s a needle around here somewhere,” offered Plagg.

Adrien paled at the idea but would do it if he had to. Fortunately, Tikki flew over the Miraculous, letting out a dust of magic, and the earrings became clip-on. He let out a relieved breath. “Thanks. Well, here goes.” He stood and clipped the earrings on. “Tikki, spots on!”


	14. Chapter 14

The wave of transformation magic was familiar, but it had a different . . . flavor to it. It was over in a flash, and he looked at his hands, marveling at the red and black.

He knew he should get going immediately, but he couldn’t fight his curiosity. He pulled Marinette’s full-length mirror out and had a look at himself.

“This is surreal.”

His own normal green eyes peered through the mask, and his hair hadn’t gone all fluffy like it did when he was Cat Noir, though there were a couple of red ribbons tied into it. He tried to pull them out, but they wouldn’t come. _Stupid magic costume._ Aside from them, the only accessory or flare at all—the only thing that broke up the field of red with its black spots—was the yo-yo strung around his waist. No cuffs at his wrists or ankles, no ears, no belt-tail. He felt . . . well, _naked_ wasn’t the right word, but . . . _wrong_. Like going outside without any pockets.

Wait. He didn’t even have pockets!

“Heh. No offense, Tikki,” Ladybug murmured, “but I don’t think this outfit’s really my style.”

Plagg floated nearby, sulking. “If you were the real Ladybug and you’d bonded with Tikki, the costume would match your personality and style, but since you’re only borrowing it, you’re stuck with what the real Ladybug wears.”

“Let’s get her back into it then, shall we? It looks better on her anyway.” He went to the round window and climbed through. “I’ll be back soon, Plagg.”

Pole vaulting through the city with his stick was awesome, but swinging around on Ladybug’s yo-yo was a whole different kind of awesome. He felt like Spider-man! And while it was hard to do one-handed, it was actually easier than manipulating his stick. It seemed to take only seconds for him to land on a rooftop above where he’d left Javier. As he’d hoped, Javier was still standing in the street. But he wasn’t alone, even aside from the unmoving mind-zombies.

Officer Roger was arguing with him and didn’t seem to be accepting anything Javier was saying. Ladybug wasn’t close enough to hear what they were saying, but if he had to guess, he’d say that Roger was blaming Javier for the mess that was still around, even though he knew akuma victims didn’t have any awareness of what was happening while Hawk Moth controlled them.

Ladybug felt bad, but this was exactly what he’d been hoping to find. By now, the akuma could be anywhere, and finding a black butterfly in the city at night was a hopeless quest. But if he was lucky, Hawk Moth would get greedy and send the akuma right back to Javier to finish the job he’d started. Ladybug kept a sharp eye out from his vantage point, watching for the flap of black wings.

Eventually, Roger stormed away to where some other cops were trying to revive the thralls, but not without leaving Javier a handful of tickets.

And there it was. The akuma. Flapping down through the light of a streetlamp toward the depressed and frustrated Javier.

Ladybug leapt down from the building, swinging his yo-yo toward the akuma. He let out a whoop of triumph as the yo-yo split to scoop the akuma inside, and landed in a crouch right in front of Javier, the yo-yo snapping back to Ladybug’s hand a moment later.

Javier jumped in surprise, then his eyes widened even more as he looked at the superhero. “L-Ladybug?”

“What? You don’t think there are male ladybugs?” Ladybug ran his finger over the yo-yo as he’d seen the real Ladybug do so many times. The yo-yo opened, releasing a white butterfly. “ _Whew_.” He looked around. Things were still a mess. People were still zombies. _Oh, right._ He hadn’t used a Lucky Charm, but he thought he remembered seeing this done once without it. With a shrug, he tossed his yo-yo into the air and shouted, “Miraculous Ladybug!”

Magic burst out from the yo-yo, swirling around Ladybug, the crowd, the street, running off to parts unknown. When it faded, the yo-yo dropped into his hand, and the crowd around him was full of confused, _awake_ people.

 _Marinette_ , he thought desperately. People were starting to give him weird looks, so he launched the yo-yo into the air and swung away before anyone started asking questions.

When he landed on Marinette’s roof and crawled through her window, she was sitting up. She saw him as he came in and scrambled to her feet, screaming.

“Easy there, Bugaboo,” he said, holding out his hands to calm her. “It’s just me.”

She eyed him up and down with incredulous wonder. “Cat Noir.”

“Normally—but at the moment, you can call me Ladybug,” he said, giving her a cocky wink.

A laugh burst out of her, though she tried to cover it with her hand. He wondered if she’d recognize him— _really_ recognize him. See through the lesser disguise that her own costume provided. But it must have been too distracting to see her partner in her costume. “Hold on. I have to get a picture of this.” She’d found her phone and was snapping shots before he could get across the chaise longue to her. By the time he did, she was looking at her own hands, realizing. “My costume. I’m not in my costume!” She looked into her mirror to see that, yes, she was her regular, uncostumed self. Dropping her phone, she covered her face in her hands as if that would do any good at this point. “You know who I am!” she accused behind her hands.

“Yes,” he said soothingly. “Sorry. Uh . . . When I saw that you were zonked out and the only way to save you was to cleanse the akuma myself, I had to get your Miraculous off to do it. Believe me, Marinette, if there’d been any other way, I wouldn’t have, but . . . I had to. So when I took off your earrings, you changed back.” It was a lie close enough to the truth that he didn’t feel too bad about it. “It was good that I’d already met you before as Marinette, since I could take you here, to your home, so you’d be safe while I dealt with the akuma.”

She peered through her fingers. “Did you? The akuma, I mean.”

“Yep. All taken care of. Everything put back to right.”

She slumped into her desk chair. “All that effort to hide our identities, and I’ve revealed myself to two people already. I am _such_ a screw-up.”

He knelt in front of her. “You’re not a screw-up, Marinette. You’re amazing.”

She groaned and clutched at her hair, not believing him.

“You know,” he said, “when I give you back your Miraculous, I’ll transform back into myself, before I can transform back into Cat Noir.”

Her hands fell, and her eyes went wide as she looked down at him, understanding what he was saying. He could see her thinking about it. “I’ll close my eyes.”

“Are you sure? I know your identity now.”

“And that’s dangerous enough. We don’t need to make it more dangerous by having me know yours.”

“Are you sure?” he asked again. Part of him wanted her to say no. Part of him was afraid she would.

She gave a tight nod.

“Okay.” He stood and found his Miraculous where he’d left it. Setting it on her desk, he watched as she closed her eyes tight. With a small sigh, he tugged off the earrings. And then Adrien stood silently in Marinette’s room, looking down at her, wanting to tell her to open her eyes, even if it meant she was furious with him. But that was her choice to make or not make, and she hadn’t made it . . . yet.

Tikki floated nearby now, practically vibrating with excitement, and as if she could read his thoughts, she shook her head at him. Adrien nodded acknowledgement.

He reached for Marinette’s hand, set the Miraculous inside, and curled her fingers closed around it. Then he slipped on his ring and murmured, “Plagg, claws out.”

When he was Cat Noir again, he said, “You can look now.”

Slowly, she opened her eyes. Was that a flash of disappointment before she relaxed?

A blur of red zipped toward her, and Tikki plastered herself against Marinette’s cheek. “Marinette! I’m so glad you’re safe!”

Marinette laughed. “It’s good to see you, too, Tikki. I hope Cat Noir wasn’t too annoying for you.”

Tikki turned to him and winked. “He was a wonderful Ladybug. Not that I’d trade you for anyone.”

“What happened, anyway? I know we engaged with Supermodel, and there was fighting, but . . . I can’t really remember what happened between that and waking up here.”

Cat Noir took a seat on the chaise longue, facing her. “You were fighting him, and I was trying to deal with the people he’d enthralled. I’d lost my stick.” Which, thanks to magic, was now back with him. “One of the thralls, ah, injured me, and I cried out. It must have distracted you for a moment, so Supermodel knocked your night vision goggles off, and then all it took was a glance and you were one of his thralls.”

Her mouth curled in disgust at the idea. “He didn’t make me . . . do anything, did he?”

“You mean like fight me? Like try to murder me?” He kept his voice calm and careless as he said it, but the fear the words came from was deep and real. He didn’t remember most of the times he’d gotten mind-controlled by villains, but he knew he’d tried to kill her pretty much every time. That knowledge terrified him. “Nah. But you sorta ogled him a little.”

“What?!”

“And when he tried to take your Miraculous, I took him out.”

A shiver ran through her. “I really didn’t do anything?”

He shook his head. “You weren’t out long, then I destroyed the thing the akuma was hiding in, and you fell asleep on the way here.”

“Still.” She shivered again.

“I know.”

“You said you were injured?”

Now that she mentioned it, Cat Noir didn’t feel any pain in his wrist. Trying not to be obvious, he moved it a little. No pain at all. The Ladybug restoration magic must have healed it. _Sweet!_ “It’s all good now.”

Her head fell back, and she spun around once in her chair. “Man, what a day.”

“For me, too.” Now that the danger was over and he didn’t have a countdown on changing back, his mind drifted to other matters.

He shouldn’t ask.

He _really_ shouldn’t ask.

That would be wrong.

Wouldn’t it?

But he hadn’t ever gotten an answer.

“Marinette . . .”


	15. Chapter 15

“Can I ask you something?” Cat Noir’s tone was light, like this was some little trifle hardly worth mentioning.

“Of course, Cat Noir,” said Marinette. “What’s up?”

“How does a girl act when she likes a guy?”

“Uh. Uh.” That clearly wasn’t the kind of question she’d been expecting. “Why?”

“There’s . . . this girl I know. In my normal life. And I . . . want to find out”— _Don’t tell her the truth or she’ll know_ _you’re talking about her_ _._ —“if she likes me.”

“Really?!” she cried, way too excited. “You like someone? That’s great!”

And there was the real reason he shouldn’t have asked. She thought he was moving on from her, giving up on her. _No, Ladybug. Not ever._ But it was out there now, so he had to go with it. “Is it?”

“Of course! What’s she like?”

“Well, she’s”— _A lot like you? No, probably shouldn’t say that._ —“great. Sweet, funny, super nice. A really good friend. And she stands up for people.”

“She sounds awesome. I bet you two would make a great couple.”

He couldn’t help but smile at that. “ _I_ think so. But . . .” If he said she liked someone else and he was trying to figure out who it was so he’d know what kind of boy she liked, Marinette would probably see right through him and know it was her he was talking about, since she knew he liked her. So he kept pretending he thought there was a chance _he_ was the one his mystery girl liked and was trying to find out. “I’m not sure how to tell if she’s interested in me.”

She gave him an exasperated look. “Have you tried asking her?”

“Yes, actually.” In a manner of speaking. “She wouldn’t give me an answer.”

“Well, I guess it is kind of a big question, especially if you asked when she wasn’t expecting it.”

“I know her friend knows, but—”

“Oh, she’ll never tell you. That would be a gross violation of the BFF code.”

“There’s a code?”

“It’s practically etched in stone. Don’t boys have one?”

“I’m . . . not really sure.” Maybe he should ask Nino of there was a code everyone else knew about that he’d somehow missed out on due to not having many friends for so long. “Anyway, so I’ve been trying to figure it out from her behavior, but I don’t know what to look for.”

Marinette scooted her chair up to him, then reached out and ruffled the hair behind his ear. “Poor Kitty. Life must be so confusing for boys. I wish I could make this easy for you, but girls are all different. Because, you know, we’re individuals. Some girls go straight for what they want. Some girls are coy or shy—”

“What do _you_ do? Uh, for example? When you like a boy?”

“Me?” She kicked out so her chair rolled backward, laughing. “I turn into a total dorkmonster. My heart starts thumping so hard I can’t even think, my brain goes all fuzzy, and my pulse races like I’m fighting the scariest supervillain ever.”

“That’s not so confusing. The same thing happens to me.”

“Okay, but does it turn you into a babbling wreck?”

“Huh?”

She seemed to consider whether to keep talking about this, but finally gave in. “We’re friends, right?”

“Best friends.”

That surprised her, but she smiled, even though Cat Noir couldn’t tell if she was only pleased that he thought so or if she felt the same way. “So I guess I can tell you. I’m not always the cool, confident Ladybug you see.” He heard the self-deprecation in her tone; she thought she was being sarcastic in her description of herself. “When I’m around the boy I like, sometimes my brain goes haywire. We’re talking babbling, stuttering, blurting out sentences that don’t even make sense, accidentally saying things I should _not_ be saying to him.”

“You do that?” he asked, teasing. “I don’t believe it.” But he did, of course. He’d seen her act like that so many times, though he’d never understood—

Wait a minute. _When I’m around the boy I like_?

“I totally do. It’s the worst. I wish I could just be normal, but I want him to like me so badly, my whole body turns traitor and I start sabotaging myself.”

Cat Noir’s mind spun. _Marinette babbles and stutters and goes all weird—when she’s around the boy she likes._ Frantically, he shuffled through his memories. When had he seen her do that? Who was around? Or who else, other than him? Usually only Alya, or Alya and Nino. Sometimes there was no one else around, and it was just the two of them.

“It’s like my mouth doesn’t want me to have a boyfriend,” she was saying. “Which is dumb because, like, hello mouth! Don’t you want to be kissed?”

Had he seen her get flustered when talking to other guys? Sometimes, but there was always some obvious explanation, like it was an important person she wanted to make a good impression on, or there was something else making her nervous.

“Sorry, Cat Noir. I know this isn’t helpful. I’m probably the only girl in the world who completely short-circuits because of a crush.”

_Crush?_

His heart beat so hard, he felt a little light-headed. He had to be hearing her wrong. She’d _said_ he wasn’t the one she liked. She’d denied it in no uncertain terms. “There’s not . . . anyone else you act like that around?” he asked through a tight throat. He barely had the air to push the words out.

She didn’t notice his distress. “Not really, no. And I wish I’d stop doing it with him so I could just talk to him like a normal person without suddenly freaking out.”

Hope surged up in his chest, and he fought to keep it at bay. Could it be true? Could he be the one she liked? Had she rejected him . . . for _him_? Not wanting to let her see the urgency in his eyes, he turned his gaze away from her, running along the walls of her room.

_What . . ._

_What in the . . ._

There were photos of him. So many photos. Magazine clippings, mostly, from his ads and fashion spreads and covers. She even had a framed headshot on her desk.

Before he knew what he was doing, he’d walked half-way over to it.

“Cat Noir, what are you—”

He turned to look at her in time to see her follow his stare to the framed photo—then he looked past her as her computer monitor caught his eye, and he nearly jumped out of his skin.

Lunging past her, he braced his hands on her desk as if a closer look would change what he saw. More pictures of himself, with swirls and hearts and—

“Marinette,” he breathed, the tightness in his chest making the words a whisper, “this is that Adrien guy. The one you said _wasn’t_ the boy you liked.”

She gave a nervous laugh and pulled at one pigtail. “Um, yeah, I did say that, didn’t I? I guess I may have sort of . . . lied about that.”

He turned to her. “So, you _do_ like him? Why would you lie to me about that?”

Her shoulders twitched in a shrug. “Because love is scary, and I know he doesn’t like me, and the thought of how he’d react if he found out makes me want to throw up with terror, so . . . sometimes when a girl likes a boy, her first response is to keep it secret so he’ll never know.”

Cat Noir hadn’t really heard most of what she’d just said. “Love?” he repeated. “You love him?”

“Yeah,” she sighed.

The hope he’d been trying to suppress exploded through his body, flooding him with joy and adrenaline. He wanted to pull her into a crushing hug and never let her go or carry her to the rooftops and shout his love to the city. He managed to keep himself from doing any of that, but he couldn’t keep the smile from taking over his whole face. “That’s great, Marinette.”

She cocked her head in curious surprise. “It is?”

“Yeah. I’m really happy for you.”

She was blushing a little, but she beamed back at him. “Thanks, Cat Noir. Sorry I couldn’t be more helpful.”

“You’re always helpful, Milady.”

“Oh? Good!” She spun her chair toward her computer and grabbed the mouse. “I already showed these to my friend Alya, but I’m so excited, I’m dying to show them to someone else, and my parents would get all weird and parenty about them.”

Cat Noir took up position behind her, with his hands on the back of her chair and his head bent close to hers, watching the screen for what he knew—hoped—was coming. She clicked to a folder labeled _ADRIEN AND ME PICS_ and opened up the photos he’d sent her earlier that night. “He took me to one of his photoshoots today, and we took these! Aren’t they amazing?”

A purr rumbled through his chest. He wondered if she could hear it. “They are.”

She scrolled through them, over and over, lingering to gaze at each picture. Cat Noir wanted to hug her, kiss her, ask her to marry him. But she still didn’t know who he was, and she didn’t want to know. Still, he couldn’t entirely help himself. His head was already right next to hers, so it felt natural to rub his head against hers as his purr grew louder.

Marinette giggled and reached up to rub at his hair with her fingers. “What are you doing, silly Kitty?”

He pulled back, embarrassed. “Sorry. It’s the cat in me. I’m just happy. Uh, for you, that is.”

She turned and looked up at him. “You really are?”

“Yeah, Ladybug—uh, Marinette. Really.”

“I’m glad to hear that, Cat Noir.”

Because it meant he didn’t like her that way anymore, or so she thought. But that was okay now. She loved Adrien, so it didn’t matter that she didn’t love Cat Noir.

He glanced at the clock on her computer, and a jolt of panic shot through him. He’d been here _way_ too long. If Natalie wasn’t missing him already, she would soon. “I need to get moving. See you later, partner!” he said, then leapt out of her window.

When he returned to the mansion, he saw that the lockdown had been lifted, which meant Natalie was definitely already wondering where he was. With a sinking stomach, he dropped on the floor of the atrium bathroom. The door was still closed, and no one was pounding on it impatiently. _Strange . . ._

He transformed back and, to help sell his cover, got undressed and hopped in the shower long enough to get thoroughly drenched. Then he got out, towel dried off, and put his pajamas back on, careful not to forget the wrist brace. He opened the door and strolled out as if nothing was the matter.

The security monitors were hidden away again. Natalie and his bodyguard were gone. His father sat in the atrium, reading a book. He glanced up when Adrien came out. “Enjoy your showers?”

“Um, yeah, I feel much better. Is the crisis over?”

“Yes. It has been for at least half an hour. Natalie knocked to tell you so, but there was no answer.”

“It was, uh, the running water. I can’t hear much over it.”

“Indeed.” Gabriel sounded like he didn’t believe him, but he wasn’t pressing it. Behind his glasses, his gaze swept over Adrien, lingering at both of his hands.

Adrien rubbed the wrist brace with his right hand. “Well, good night, Father.”

Gabriel watched him walk all the way across the atrium and out into the hall before murmuring, “Goodnight, son.”


	16. Chapter 16

When Adrien awoke from a hard, dreamless sleep the next morning, it was with the impression that there was something he was happy about, but he couldn’t remember what it was. On the way to his bathroom, he caught sight of the photo of him and Marinette which he still had up on his computer, and it all came crashing back in an overwhelming wave of joy.

Ladybug loved him. She didn’t know she did, exactly. Didn’t know that the him who loved her was the same him that she loved, but _he_ knew it. And she had loved him for at least a little while.

He caught himself zoning out in a happy daze as he brushed his teeth. “Ladybug has a crush on me,” he said to Plagg. “Ladybug loves me. Can you believe it?”

“Really, kid? That’s what you’re thinking about?”

“Of course! The girl I’m in love with loves me back! What else should I be thinking about?”

“Maybe how you’re going to explain to your father and Natalie how your wrist isn’t injured anymore.”

Adrien twisted his wrist back and forth. He bent it and put pressure on it. Yep, the Ladybug magic had fixed it. Which he could have told his father if Adrien had—as far as his dad had known—been anywhere near the site where the magic was released. The couple hundred yards it had been from the mansion might as well have been miles. Natalie would have noticed the swirl of red magic coming in if it had done so, and there was no reason for it to heal him if he didn’t have anything to do with Supermodel.

He sighed. “I guess I’ll have to keep wearing the brace for a while. Maybe it’ll be enough to pretend it gets better over the next week and the doctor was wrong about how bad of a sprain it was.”

“So you _can_ think with your head!” Plagg praised him.

“Har-har.”

To his utter shock, Gabriel was sitting at the head of the dining room table when Adrien came down for breakfast.

“F-Father? You’re home!”

“I am, yes.” Gabriel was in the middle of breakfast. A second place was set on his left side. “I don’t have any meetings until later this morning. I thought I might have breakfast with my son. You’re late.”

To an appointment he didn’t know about? Yep, that sounded like his father. Adrien didn’t argue, though, only hurried to sit and serve himself some food from the options laid out. Quiet stretched between them until Adrien noticed his father staring at his Miraculous.

“Where did you say you got that ring, again?” Gabriel asked.

Adrien almost choked on his food. “I . . . found it at a shop a while ago. I don’t remember which one.”

“May I see it?” Gabriel held out his hand, obviously expecting Adrien to take the ring off and hand it to him.

Heart racing with panic, Adrien stared at his father’s open hand, wracking his memory for what exactly happened when he took off his Miraculous? He’d done it so few times.

There. He caught the information he needed. The Miraculous would stay silver, not show its real form. Plagg wouldn’t go into it. Was that because it was still bonded to him?

So, he could give it to his dad, and it would still look the same, and nothing would seem out of the ordinary. But if he didn’t hand it over, _that_ would be suspicious.

He began to move to take it off when a flare of fear deep in his gut stopped him. What did his dad want it for? What if he didn’t give it back? He didn’t know why Gabriel would want to keep his ring, not knowing what it really was, but it was far too great a risk to take.

Adrien gave his dad an inquisitive look and said, “Why do you want to see it?”

Gabriel withdrew his hand, but an odd expression crossed his face. Like some weird and subtle combination of pain and satisfaction. “Never mind.”

Eager to move the conversation along, Adrien said, “Have you apologized to Javier for whatever you said to him?”

He’d said it in what he thought was a respectful and mild tone, but his father’s eyebrows lowered dangerously. “Have I what?”

Adrien hunched his shoulders like a turtle trying to protect its head. “Natalie told me you yelled at him for me getting hurt. Which was unfair because it wasn’t his fault. And obviously whatever you said really upset him since he turned into a supervillain and tried to destroy you. Besides, my wrist isn’t even that bad. I think it’s already starting to feel better.”

“If someone can’t keep control of their emotions, what fault is that of mine?”

“It doesn’t have to be your fault to apologize. People will do better work for you if you treat them well.”

“People will do good work for me because I _pay_ them well. Or they will not work for me any longer.”

“Maybe. But I don’t think people will really dig deep just for money. I think to really give it all they have, their heart has to be in it. And that means enjoying what they do and who they do it for.”

Gabriel gave his son a long, considering look—and then, to Adrien’s amazement, said, “Very well, Adrien. I’ll try it your way.”

“Really?! I mean, great!”

Gabriel picked up his phone. “Natalie, send a note—”

“You should do it yourself.” Off his father’s irritated look, he added, “Not a note. If you yelled at him personally, you should apologize personally. It’ll mean more.”

Gabriel clenched his teeth and ground out, “All right.”

Breakfast was kinda quiet after that.

They kept him inside the rest of the day because of his supposed injury, and all he could do was surf the internet and check the Ladyblog and play video games and stare at the photos of him and Marinette. He printed out copies of the best shots and stuck them to his wall next to the Valentine’s card that he believed (now more than ever) to be from Ladybug. Even though he felt guilty about it, he kept hoping for a supervillain attack or some other crisis in the city, but it ended up being a quiet day all around.

By Monday morning, he was dying to see her.

As he got dropped off, he saw Marinette go into school ahead of him. He tried to catch up with her, but Nino ambushed him.

Okay, maybe not _ambushed_. He caught up and fell into step alongside him as he’d done a hundred times before, but it meant that now Adrien was walking with Nino instead of walking with Marinette, and it would look weird if he tried to catch up with Marinette now.

“How’d it go with Marinette on Saturday?” Nino asked.

“It went, uh, really well. I think she had a good time. My dad even looked at some of her designs and said they were good.”

“Wow,” said Nino. “I’m not surprised Marinette’s designs are good, only that your dad would say so.”

They walked through the courtyard toward the locker room. “I know my dad seems cold most of the time, but sometimes he can surprise you.” Adrien hadn’t heard back about how the whole apology thing had gone, but he was hoping no news was good news.

Before they reached the locker room, Nino pulled Adrien aside. “Enough about your dad. How’d it go with Marinette?”

“You already asked that. She had fun.”

“Come on, dude. You can’t possibly be as dense as you’re acting.”

Adrien fiddled with the strap of his bag. There was so much he couldn’t say to Nino. To anyone other than Plagg, really. Making sure to speak quietly enough that no one could overhear, he said, “I . . . think maybe Marinette likes me. That is, I think she _likes_ me.”

Nino threw up his hands. “Finally, the boy catches a clue.”

“You knew?”

“Alya might have mentioned it. On accident. I don’t _officially_ know, if you get what I mean.”

“I don’t.”

“That’s okay. Something about secret girlfriend rules. The question is, buddy: now that you know, what are you gonna do about it?”

“I—” Adrien stopped, his mouth hanging open. “I don’t know.”

“And round two begins,” Nino laughed, going into the locker room.

Adrien went to his locker and took his time getting what he needed. He could hear Marinette over at her own locker, saying hi to Rose and Mylene. Oh, how badly Adrien wanted to slide up behind Marinette, wrap his arms around her, and say good morning into her ear. But there was no way he could do that. He didn’t have his mask— _any_ mask. He was Adrien. Boring Adrien, who never did anything like that. And she was . . .

Wait a minute. She was Ladybug. And she returned his feelings. He closed his eyes and took a breath, pretending he was Cat Noir, willing the confidence into his body. She was Ladybug, and she liked him. He could do this.

When he turned back to her, Rose and Mylene were gone, and Marinette was digging in her locker. He approached quietly, coming around to her right, where she wouldn’t see him until she closed her locker.

He waited patiently until the locker door closed, and Marinette jumped, startled to find him there. “I was thinking,” he said in the smooth tones of Cat Noir. It helped to imagine the Ladybug mask on her face when he looked at her. “We could go places, you and me.”

“W-what?”

He leaned against the lockers and reached out to twirl the end of her pigtail with his finger. “My looks, your smarts. The world could be our oyster.” He grinned and waited for her to push his hand away and tell him that she had the looks _and_ the smarts or something to that effect.

She didn’t do that, though.

Instead, some of the color drained from her face, and she backed away, mumbling about having to get to class.

Adrien frowned after her.

And then he noticed Alya and Nino standing there, gaping at him. Alya ran after Marinette, and Nino marched up to Adrien. “What. The heck. Was that?”

“What do you mean?”

“What do I mean? Did you not see yourself just now?”

Okay, so obviously his attempt to channel Cat Noir had failed. He was about to ask Nino what he’d done wrong, but the bell rang and they had to rush to class.

He was able to catch Marinette’s eye as he came into the classroom, but she looked away too quickly for him to do or say anything. She was acting weird around him. Shy. He smiled as he took his seat, now knowing the reason for her strange behavior was that she liked him.

Between classes, he spotted Marinette sitting on a bench at the side of the courtyard, drawing in her sketchpad. He came up beside her and, once again reminding himself that he could do this because she was Ladybug, leaned a hand against the wall. “Hey.”

She jerked in surprise. “Uh, hi! You’re Adrien! I mean, Adrien, you’re here!”

 _So adorable_. He almost said, _Cat got your tongue?_ but didn’t because if she understood it, that would blow his whole cover for a lame joke, and if she didn’t get it, it wouldn’t even _be_ a joke. “So, uh . . .” In his mind, he painted a red and black mask over her face. It was effective enough that he almost reached back to twirl a belt-tail he wasn’t wearing. “You saw those pics I sent?”

“Y-yeah.”

“We make a pretty cute couple, don’t you think?”

Her mouth tightened into a nervous, rictus grin. “I . . . do.”

He leaned in close to her face and winked. “I know you do.”

And then Marinette picked up her things and sprinted away from him.

_Huh._

In study hall, Adrien took a seat at one of the tables. Alya and Nino were off looking for some book, but Adrien didn’t have much to work on, so he sat and waited until Marinette walked through the door. She saw him but sat at another table.

He waited as long as he could, letting her get whatever work done she needed to do, but finally, he couldn’t hold back. He picked up his stuff and sat down across from her at the table. She shot one wide-eyed look at him, then dove back into her work.

That was okay. He didn’t need to talk to her to appreciate her. It was enough to be in her presence.

He rested his chin on his fists on the desk and watched her, a content smile spreading over his face as his eyelids drooped half-closed in pleasure.

She worked for a while more, ignoring him. When did she ever ignore him? _She must want me to give her attention_ , he thought.

Not enough to bother her, though. Only enough to let her know he was happy she was here.

His hand crept across the table. Slowly. Slowly. With one finger, he touched the edge of the paper she was writing on.

She moved it away.

Slowly. Slowly. He touched it again.

“What is it, Adrien?” she asked in a flat, controlled tone.

“You like me.”

Her eyes widened, and a blush rose to her cheeks.

He tilted his head. “You liiike meee.”

Her face got even redder, and she focused even harder on her work.

Why wasn’t she calling him silly or dramatic or saying that she didn’t like him (even though they’d both know that was a lie)?

She was so intent on whatever she was working on, he decided to let her work in peace. So he sat and watched her quietly for the rest of the period.


	17. Chapter 17

As soon as school ended, Nino grabbed Adrien by the arm and hauled him to a vacant corner of the courtyard. He let him go only to immediately punch him hard in the arm.

“Ow! What was that for?!”

Nino glared at him with more anger than Adrien could ever remember seeing from his friend. “I know you pretty well, Adrien, but I never knew you could be such a jerk! Maybe all those years of being Chloe’s friend made her rub off on you more than any of us thought.”

Adrien rubbed his sore arm, ignoring the fact that he was doing it with the hand that was supposed to be injured. “Nino, what on earth are you talking about?”

“If you’re not interested in Marinette, that’s fine. But you could have let her down easy. Or pretended not to know and waited for her to move on to some other guy.”

“Not interested? What? Of course I’m interested!”

Nino rocked back. “What? You _are_ interested?”

“Why do you think I’ve been flirting with her all day?”

Nino’s eyes bugged. “That was you _flirting_?”

“Yes! What did you think it was?”

“Everyone thought you were making fun of her for liking you, like Chloe does whenever anyone makes the mistake of liking her.”

Nino’s words sucked all the air out of Adrien’s lungs. His stomach flipped. “What? I—I would never . . .”

“So, you _do_ like her?”

“Very much so. Wait. _Everyone_? Even Marinette?”

“Especially Marinette, dude. Didn’t you see how mortified she was?”

“Mortified? Is-is that how she was feeling?” More to himself than to Nino, he admitted, “I couldn’t figure out why she wasn’t responding like I thought she would.”

“Wow, dude, you are bad at this.”

That didn’t surprise Adrien, although he hadn’t comprehended exactly _how_ bad at it he was. “She hates me now, doesn’t she?”

“Yeah, probably.”

Adrien scanned the courtyard for Marinette. He needed to fix this ASAP. What he found was Alya storming toward them like a woman on a very deadly mission.

When she got within speaking distance, Alya reached a clawed hand toward Adrien’s face. “You little—”

“Easy, there.” Nino put a hand on her shoulder, holding her back. “Adrien wasn’t trying to be a jerk. That was him flirting.”

Alya dropped her hand. And her jaw. “Flirting? Are you kidding me?”

Adrien shook his head. “I like Marinette. I really do. I was . . . trying to show her that.”

Alya slapped a hand on her face. “You have got to be kidding me. _Boys_.” She said that word like a curse. “Well, Marinette’s crying her eyes out in the girls’ bathroom. She’s still hurt and hasn’t moved on to anger yet. You should probably go talk to her before she does.”

 _Crying? No._ His heart twisted inside him. How had he managed to hurt her when that was the last thing he’d ever wanted to do? He’d only done what he did as Cat Noir every time he and Ladybug saw each other. Why did she have such a different reaction to it now?

“And Adrien,” Alya said. “Don’t flirt—if that’s what you call that. Just talk to her.”

Soon, Adrien stood at the door of the girls’ bathroom, trying to decide whether to knock or go in or what. Luckily, the decision was made easier when Alix came out. She stopped with a start, seeing him, then punched him in the arm even harder than Nino had.

Adrien grunted and clutched the spot. So, Nino hadn’t been exaggerating when he’d said _everyone_ thought he was making fun of Marinette. “I came to apologize.”

“You’d better make it good,” Alix hissed, “or there’s more where that came from.”

“Is she alone?”

Alix nodded.

It took him another few seconds to muster the courage, then Adrien pushed the door open and went in. Only one stall door was closed. Behind it, he heard sniffles and nose-blowing and tight sobbing. The sound tore through him. He had the urge to go back outside and tell Alix to beat him to a pulp because, intentional or not, he deserved it for making Marinette cry like that. But he didn’t think that would make Marinette feel any better.

With soft steps, he walked over to the stall door, put his back against the wall beside it, and slid to the floor.

Her sobs stopped for the moment, but he could hear the tears in her voice. “I’m fine. I don’t need anything.”

How many girls had come in trying to help her and been unable to talk her out of her sadness? How did he possibly have the power to make her this sad?

“That’s okay,” he said. “I’m completely useless anyway.”

He heard a sharp breath and her shoes sliding across the floor as she drew them closer. Pulling in. Trying to protect herself. From him. “Adrien?”

“I’m really bad at this,” he said. Nino had been right about that. “I know it doesn’t make it okay, but I didn’t know that how I was acting was hurting you. And I’m really, really sorry it did.”

She sniffed again, her words coming out jerky. “You were—teasing me. You didn’t—think that would hurt?”

“It was meant to be _playful_ teasing. It was meant to be fun for you. I swear.”

She didn’t say anything to that right away.

“Marinette, will you come out and talk to me?”

She didn’t answer that either, but after several seconds, the stall door opened, and she stepped out. Eyes bloodshot, face red and wet, hands clenched around wet wads of toilet paper, she came out and faced him. _There’s my brave Ladybug._

He didn’t stand. It felt right to look up to her as he begged her forgiveness.

“I thought we were friends,” she said.

“We _are_.” _Best friends._ His heart ached with the truth of it and the fear that he might have lost it.

“I didn’t mean to ruin it by letting you find out.”

“Marinette, no.” He moved to his knees. “You didn’t ruin anything. I’m afraid _I’ve_ ruined it. But I didn’t mean to.”

“Why were you acting so weird today? Why did you say those things to me?”

He gave a sad, bitter chuckle. “I was flirting with you.”

She blinked owlishly. “You . . . flirting?”

“Yeah. The consensus seems to be that I’m very bad at it.”

Her lips curled into a small smile, and she let out a little giggle. “Yes. Very bad.”

“Do you forgive me?”

She considered him. “Why were you f-flirting with me?”

“Because I _like_ you, Marinette. As a friend, but not only as a friend. When I realized you like me, I was so happy, I . . . guess I tried a little too hard to let you know.”

“You could have tried telling me.”

“Always with the obvious and practical advice.”

“Huh?”

 _Whoops._ That was a callback to something she’d said to Cat Noir. This was getting complicated.

Marinette wasn’t crying anymore. The ache in his heart eased up. “So, about that forgiveness?”

She smiled and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. “I forgive you.”

“Thank you. Do you mind if I get off the floor now?”

She shook her head, and he got to his feet.

“You . . . really like me?” she asked in a fragile voice.

“I really do.”

Her voice jumped in pitch and volume. “For real?”

He laughed. “For real. And now I’m going to prove it to you by asking you out.”

She kept smiling up at him, her bloodshot eyes full of happiness, waiting.

So he said, “Will you go out with me?”

“Yes, Adrien, I will,” she squealed, bouncing in a way that made him fairly sure she wanted to throw her arms around him.

All he had to do was open his arms, and she was there, clinging to him, pressing her wet face into his shirt. He held her as long as she let him. Which was a while.


	18. Chapter 18

Adrien had his bodyguard drop him off at school a little early the next day so he could stop by the bakery. It wasn’t as crowded as on Saturday, but it smelled just as good.

“Adrien, how nice to see you. What can I get for you?” Marinette’s mom greeted him cheerily, so Marinette probably hadn’t still been upset when she’d gotten home. She hadn’t _seemed_ still upset, but he’d learned that he wasn’t as good as he’d thought at interpreting her mood.

He bought a box of macarons, lingering by the counter when he was finished. “Um, as long as I’m here,” he said when Sabine’s observation of him had grown too knowing, “I thought I might walk to school with Marinette.”

“I think she’d like that,” Sabine said. Then, since there were no other customers in the store at the moment, she turned and shouted up the stairs, “Marinette! Hurry up! You don’t want to be late for school!”

Half a minute later, Marinette barreled down the stairs, and Adrien had to hold the box of cookies out of her path lest she send them all flying. “Adrien? What are you here for?”

“Cookies,” he said, holding them up for her to see. “Since I’m here, want to walk to school together?”

She nodded, and they walked to school in what felt to Adrien like companionable silence. From his glances her way, he guessed that she was trying to think of something to say, but since the walk across the street to school took them about a minute, she didn’t get anything out before they arrived.

He and Marinette walked into class together. As they did so, Adrien was startled to see that everyone else was already seated—almost all of them giving him some sort of dirty look. Only Chloe and Sabrina were smiling. Adrien withered under all those glares, but Alya came to his rescue. Sort of.

“It’s okay, everyone!” she shouted much more loudly than was really necessary. “All that stuff yesterday was him _flirting_!”

Most of the glares twisted into confusion. Kim went straight to laughter. “Are you serious?”

“Yes. I’m afraid so,” Adrien said. “Sorry to worry you all.” He held up his peace offering of cookies.

Most of the girls still seemed unconvinced—until Marinette took the first cookie and pecked his cheek before hurrying to her seat. His cheek heated with the ghost of her kiss, and he stood frozen as, one by one, his classmates came down and took a cookie, anger turning to humor or happiness as they read the truth in his humiliated, penitent expression.

Even Ms. Bustier took a cookie, shaking her head in amusement as she did so.

Finally, only Chloe and Sabrina were left. Sabrina was already on her way over for a cookie when Chloe scoffed, “Flirting? With Marinette? Why?”

“Because I like her, Chloe,” he said. What kind of a question was that?

“What?!” Chloe screeched. “You can’t like _her_! She’s—she’s so—not _me_!”

“I can like whoever I want, Chloe. And I like her.”

Chloe gasped incredulously.

“Enough,” Ms. Bustier cut in. “Class is starting.”

Sabrina had been stopped in her tracks by Chloe’s indignation, and now she wavered between returning to her seat and getting a cookie. Adrien took one out of the box and handed it to her, and she smiled her gratitude—very briefly—before sitting back down. Chloe huffed, crossed her arms, and turned her face from him. He set a cookie in front of her anyway.

At lunchtime, Adrien was headed out to eat with Marinette, Nino, and Alya when a familiar car pulled up in front of the school and Natalie stepped out. “Good, Adrien, I caught you. Your father set up a fitting that he needs you at right away.”

“Now? It’s the middle of the school day.”

“He wants to be there, and his schedule is very busy. This is the only time he was able to fit it in.”

Adrien deflated. “Sorry, guys. I’ll see you later.” They were disappointed, and Nino was angry on his behalf, but this was all par for the course where his father was concerned, so Adrien got in the car without arguing.

“Why is Father coming to a fitting?” he asked Natalie as they drove through the city.

“He didn’t say. I would imagine something about this design is particularly tricky, and he wants to make sure it’s done right.” There was a pen speared through her bun as if she’d put it there in a hurry and forgotten about it.

She didn’t offer more, so Adrien stared out the window until the car pulled up in front of a tailor’s shop wedged between a chocolate shop and a millinery on a small, crowded street. There was nowhere to park, so he and Natalie got out while his bodyguard drove away. Presumably, Natalie would call him to pick them up when they were done.

The door to the little shop was open, but no one was inside when they entered, and the sign was flipped to _Closed_. It was one of those old-world types of tailor shops, neatly cluttered and warmly professional all at the same time. “Why are we here, Natalie? Most of my fittings are done by Father’s people.”

“He said he needed a specialist for this piece, and the tailor insists in working only in his own shop.”

Adrien’s eyebrows rose. “Insists? With Father?”

She returned a faint smile, getting the humor. “When you’re the best, you can get away with things others can’t.”

“So, where is the tailor?”

“Mr. Agreste said he would be bringing him when he comes. We’re to wait until they arrive.”

Adrien and Natalie sat down in a pair of barely-cushioned old chairs and waited. Half an hour later, Adrien said, “Maybe you should call him? If they don’t get here soon, I’ll be late for class by the time we’re done.”

“Your father is very busy, but I’m certain he’s aware that we’re waiting.”

After another half an hour, Adrien’s stomach gave a loud growl. “I’m missing class now, and I didn’t even get lunch.”

Natalie called the school to excuse him. “No, I can’t say when he’ll be back in today,” she told the secretary, and Adrien groaned inside.

A while later, Adrien was playing a game on his phone when Natalie’s rang. The voice on the other end came through loudly enough that Adrien could tell it was his father and that he wasn’t happy. “Mr. Agreste! I—” Natalie blanched. “We’re at the tailor’s. You told me to bring Adrien—Yes, I—O-of course, Mr. Agreste. But you told me we should wait until—I’m sorry. Yes. I know. I’m sure it was my fault. I’m sor—I-I will. Right away.”

The poor woman. Gabriel clearly hadn’t taken Adrien’s advice about how to treat his employees to heart. Not that he’d expected him to. “It’s okay, Natalie.”

She clutched her phone, staring at it like she might throw it across the room. “It-it wasn’t my mistake,” she said to herself. “I’m sure of it. He told me to wait for . . . How could he say—” She burst into tears.

Adrien moved over to put an arm around her. Whatever his dad had said to her, it must have been horrible. He’d never seen Natalie so distraught before. She was fighting to regain control, her teeth clenching with the effort, but the tears kept coming.

A twitch of movement in the shadows caught his eye. Something was coming in through the vent. The bottom dropped out of Adrien’s stomach. It was an akuma.

“It’s okay, Natalie!” he cried as he leapt toward the akuma, trying to wave it away as if it were any normal bug. “Cheer up! I’m sure he didn’t mean it!”

But the akuma was quick, and it had her in its sights. It slipped between Adrien’s arms, and he turned in time to watch it settle on the frame of her glasses and melt into them.

 _Oh, no._ He watched in horror as her face shot up, red coloring the skin around her eyes, a wicked grin on her face. He darted for the door leading to the back of the shop. He needed to transform and try to subdue her until Ladybug could get here.

As he reached the door and began to pull it open, a huge tentacle slammed it closed, twining around the handle. Adrien spun to see that Natalie’s skin had turned a mottled red and black, and from the waist down, she was nothing but a mass of tentacles. Incongruously, that pen was still wedged into her bun.

The tentacles writhed, moving her closer to him. “Adrien Agreste, I am Tentacula, and you will not be getting out of here.”

“Wanna bet?” he muttered, dodging another tentacle that shot out toward him. If the back door was blocked, he’d have to go out the front. He dove for it, twisting to dodge another tentacle, but Tentacula moved impossibly fast. Propelled by the tentacles, her body surged forward and slammed into the front door, covering it in a wall of twisting tentacles. He managed to avoid getting smashed by the mass of her monstrous lower body, but her hand darted out and grabbed his right wrist. He jerked it, trying to free himself from her grip, but she had the strength of a supervillain, and he wasn’t Cat Noir yet. He couldn’t change right in front of someone controlled by Hawk Moth, but he was starting to run out of options.

Before he could make more than one failed attempt to free his hand, her other hand swept in, grabbed his Miraculous, and pulled it off his finger. The shock of it paralyzed him for another split-second. Tentacula smiled, slipped the ring onto the end of one tentacle, and curled the tentacle into a tight fist.

Adrien’s brain finally kicked back in. He grabbed his right fist in his left hand and used the extra strength to break himself free of Tentacula’s grip. That surprised and angered her, but he scrambled away and searched for a weapon. Her sprawling tentacles still blocked both exits, but among the decorations hanging on the wall behind him, he spotted an old fencing saber. _Perfect_. He leapt up, unsheathed it, and swung.

The end of a tentacle flopped to the floor, separated from Tentacula’s body. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the correct tentacle. She howled more in outrage than pain, and then the stump regrew into a perfectly whole tentacle in seconds. His blade flashed again, and two more tentacles were severed and regrown. Adrien growled in frustration. She was keeping the one holding his Miraculous back, close to her body.

 _She went right for my_ _ring_ _. How did she know to do that?_ She’d been so fast and so intent, he’d had no warning until it was over.

Tentacula shouted at him again, but stopped when Hawk Moth’s outline appeared on her face. Her anger drained away, and she nodded once. “Very well.” Quick as a fish, she spun around, ripped open the front door, and spilled out into the street.

Adrien chased after her, saber in hand, but she was so fast. He ran as hard as he could, and she outpaced him more and more every minute. Tentacula was getting away—and taking his Miraculous with her.


	19. Chapter 19

Adrien lost sight of Tentacula for a while, but he was able to track her by following the screams and the trail of destruction. When he caught sight of her again, Tentacula was locked in an all-out brawl with Ladybug. Tentacles lashed through the air, swiping at anyone unfortunate enough to get in the villain’s path and coming down with such force that they cracked pavement and caved in cars. Ladybug dodged and danced, staying out of Tentacula’s grasp with apparent ease while sending her yo-yo around and around, trying to get the tentacles tied up.

For a few seconds, Adrien watched them fight, then he saw why Ladybug was having such an easy time avoiding the tentacles. Tentacula wasn’t actually trying to catch Ladybug, only to get by her.

_She’s trying to take my Miraculous to Hawk Moth, and he doesn’t want her to stop and try to get Ladybug’s on the way._

That was strange. Hawk Moth had had more than one chance to take Cat Noir’s Miraculous when Cat Noir had been under a villain’s power, but he’d usually opted to try to use Cat Noir to catch Ladybug rather than taking the bird in the hand. Maybe he thought since Ladybug was the only one who could really stop his akumas, it was most important to get hers. But now he’d changed tactics. Why? Had he finally gotten wise and realized it made more sense to take whichever one he could get before trying to go after the other?

Or was there some reason he particularly wanted Cat Noir’s Miraculous today?

The power of destruction could be horrific in the hands of someone like Hawk Moth. But Hawk Moth’s power was already great, seeing as how he could turn normal people into villains every bit as powerful as the actual Miraculous holders—as he’d proven by straight-up duplicating the powers of the Black Cat, Ladybug, and Red Fox Miraculouses in the past.

This wasn’t something he was going to figure out by standing here thinking about it. He ran as close as he dared to the battle, looking to see which tentacle held his ring. Ladybug managed to get her yo-yo around the bulk of Tentacula’s body, binding the tentacles, and swung her into the air toward the Seine. The pause gave Ladybug a chance for a breather. She alighted on a rooftop, opened her yo-yo to communication mode, and frowned at it. Wondering where Cat Noir was and why he wasn’t answering her call.

_I’ll be there as soon as I can, Ladybug._

The saber in his hand felt like a child’s toy. He wasn’t going to do a lot of good by running up to Tentacula and hacking at her until she batted him into the river, and Ladybug would only be distracted by trying to keep him safe. So he followed in the shadows, trying to keep either of the superpowered combatants from spotting him, as Ladybug swung down to the water side, where Tentacula was already surging up toward the street level.

Adrien watched as Ladybug fought, wishing he had whatever extra power gave her that insight into strategy that always came along with her Lucky Charm.

Ladybug leapt onto Tentacula’s body, reaching for something, and the villain brought more tentacles up to throw her off—including the one holding his ring! For a moment, that tentacle swung wildly in the air with two others.

“Come on, let this work,” Adrien breathed. He waited until Ladybug got clear, then he threw the saber as hard as he could toward Tentacula. It was a long, crazy shot, and he was crazy for trying it. But maybe there was something to be said for wishful thinking. The blade of the saber sliced through the very end of the tentacle. The tip—and his Miraculous—flew off behind Tentacula, toward the river.

Adrien watched it arc away, down, and land with a splash.

 _No!_ It was in the Seine! How was he going to find his Miraculous in the middle of the Seine?

Tentacula roared in outrage and spun, searching for the ring, but Adrien could tell she hadn’t seen where it had gone in. Ladybug didn’t appear to even realize the significance of what had happened. The ring was so small and Tentacula had been holding it so close, she probably had never seen it.

Adrien ran to the water’s edge and looked in. Even though he knew where the ring had gone in, he couldn’t see it. How was he going to get to it before Tentacula did?

“Lucky Charm!” Ladybug shouted, and something fell into her hands. She was giving the object a curious look when a tree-trunk-sized tentacle swept her off her feet.

The Lucky Charm fell to the ground a dozen feet from where Adrien crouched. He ran over and grabbed it as Ladybug fought Tentacula. It was a snorkel, complete with goggles. _Nice_.

Adrien put it on and dove into the river, aiming his body toward the spot where he’d seen his ring go in. As soon as he was in, Plagg floated out of his shirt, zipping around the water as easily as he could zip through air. Adrien swam, hoping the ring hadn’t sunk so far that he wouldn’t have enough light to find it, and Plagg zipped back and forth, helping him with the search.

He was too far under for the snorkel to work and was about to need to go back up for air when Plagg tugged his sleeve and pointed urgently to his left. A glint of silver drifted down through the water. Adrien kicked out as hard as he could, doing his best torpedo impression toward the glint. The water grew darker. His lungs demanded air. He reached out his hand.

Something hard touched his palm. He seized it. No time for checking. He surged toward the surface, kicking for all he was worth. It was so far away. Farther than he’d thought. He wouldn’t—

He made it. Air hit his face, and he gasped, heaving only a few breaths before propelling himself to the side of the river and crawling up onto the bank. He took a few more breaths, filling his aching lungs, and opened his hand to see what he’d caught.

His ring. He almost collapsed with relief. But there was no time for that. Running to the nearest spot he could find that would hide him, he took off the goggles, slid the ring onto his finger and said, “Plagg, claws out!”

As soon as he was transformed, he leapt into the fray. Ladybug must have been keeping Tentacula thoroughly busy, because neither of them appeared to have noticed him going for a swim.

When he joined the battle, Ladybug was closed tight with Tentacula, legs wrapped around her waist as she rode the villain like a bucking bull as tentacles tried to grab her.

“Need some help, Milady?”

“Where were you, Cat Noir! I’ve already”—she ducked her head to dodge a tentacle—“used my Lucky Charm, not that it did any good.” She grabbed something, and it must have been what she was going for, because she jumped off Tentacula, landing beside Cat Noir. “Fashionably late’s one thing, but the guests are already going home.” She held up the pen that had been in Natalie’s—Tentacula’s—bun and snapped it.

Nothing happened.

“That’s not where the akuma is,” Cat Noir said helpfully.

“Where is it, then?” Ladybug growled and turned to face Tentacula, who howled and came at Cat Noir, tentacles flopping stickily on the pavement.

He dodged her—much easier now that he had his powers—and used his stick to knock her glasses off. Catching them in the air, he tossed them to Ladybug. She didn’t hesitate but broke them immediately. The akuma flew out, she caught it, and a white butterfly flapped off into the sky.

Tentacula turned back into Natalie, who was dazed but unhurt. She could wait another minute.

“Where’d my Lucky Charm go?” Ladybug muttered, searching the ground.

Cat Noir ran off to the shadows where he’d left it and brought it to her. “I’d better run.”

“What?! You just got here, and _I’m_ the only one about to change back.”

He couldn’t explain, so he gave her a catty grin. “I’ve got an appointment at the groomer’s. You know how it is.” He ran away before she could yell at him.

He was back—as Adrien—right after she’d fixed everything. “Natalie! Are you okay?” He helped her to her feet.

“Yes, Adrien. I—What happened?”

“My dad must have said something really awful to you, because you got akumatized.”

“Your dad sure has a knack for bringing out the supervillain in people,” Ladybug commented.

Adrien sighed. “I’m sure he doesn’t mean to.”

“Are you okay, Adrien?” Ladybug asked.

“Yeah. I was with her when it happened. I ran after her and . . . stayed hidden until you and Cat Noir took care of things.”

“You mean _I_ took care of things.” She rolled her eyes, but her exasperation was mostly in good humor, now that the danger had passed. Her earrings beeped. “Gotta go.”

When Ladybug was gone, Adrien pulled out his cell phone—it, as well as his clothes, were dry and undamaged, thanks to the restoration magic—and called his dad. It took several rings for Gabriel to pick up, which wasn’t at all unusual.

“What is it, Adrien?” Gabriel sounded in no better mood than he’d been when he’d called Natalie and yelled at her.

“I thought you’d like to know, Natalie just got akumatized thanks to you.” He didn’t expect the surge of anger that rose and spilled out in his words.

“What? What nonsense are you—”

“Check the news, Father. I’m sure it’s on there. What on earth did you say to her?”

“That is none of your business.”

Adrien took a controlled breath. “Fine. We’re not at the tailor’s anymore, though. After she got akumatized, I chased after her so someone would be here for her when she changed back.”

“You _chased after_ a supervillain?!” Gabriel nearly shouted.

“I stayed far enough away to be safe. And it was Natalie. I couldn’t leave her.” He was definitely portraying himself as a better employer’s-son than he probably would have been if he weren’t also Cat Noir, but he had to say something to explain how he got to her so quickly.

Gabriel let out an unhappy breath. “Tell me where you are. I’ll send a car.”

Natalie was quiet on the ride back to the mansion. Her demeanor was sad and troubled and still a little angry.

Adrien was quiet, too. But he wasn’t sad or angry. He was scared. Terrified. This wasn’t the first time Hawk Moth had akumatized someone close to him— meaning either someone he knew or someone in close physical proximity—or even the first time an akuma victim had been out to get him personally, but it was the first time that any supervillain had deliberately gone after his ring when he wasn’t Cat Noir.

It could only mean that Hawk Moth knew—or strongly suspected—that Adrien was Cat Noir.

Today, Adrien had come very close to losing his Miraculous to Hawk Moth. If he really did know Adrien’s identity, Adrien was in more danger than he could fully comprehend.

There was only one solution. He’d have to find a way to convince Hawk Moth that his suspicions were wrong.


	20. Chapter 20

****Marinette seemed surprised to see him when Adrien showed up at her front door that afternoon. Nevertheless, she invited him in. Her parents were still down in the bakery, so they had some privacy.

“I didn’t expect you to come,” she said, “what with Natalie getting akumatized and you missing the rest of school.”

“Yeah, the attack was pretty scary. But it’s over now, and I didn’t want to cancel our date.”

“Is she okay?”

He thought about how Natalie had looked when he’d left the mansion. “I don’t think so. But . . . I think she will be. She’s a pretty tough lady.”

“She must be, to put up with your dad all the time.” Marinette covered her mouth. “Sorry, I didn’t mean—”

“Yes, you did, and it’s okay. He’s a difficult, confusing person.” Taking a deep breath, he tried to push all the unpleasant thoughts out of his mind and focus on what was before him. “So, are you ready for our date?”

She lit up like a kid at Christmas. “Yeah! Did you bring the guns?”

“Guns, ammo, gear. It’s all out in the trunk.” He nodded toward what she had on, the same clothes she wore every day. “You’ll probably want to change out of that, though. Wear something disposable.”

“Right!”

He took a seat on her living room couch and waited while she changed.

When she’d agreed to a date with him, his first impulse was to book a table at the most expensive, romantic restaurant in Paris. Shoot, maybe book the whole restaurant so they could have some privacy. But . . . big, romantic gestures were more of a Cat Noir thing to do, and not only had he failed to woo her as Cat Noir, but when he’d tried to be a little more Cat-Noir-ish as Adrien, it had been an absolute disaster. Besides, if he gave her the same kind of date that Cat Noir had tried to give her, she might begin to suspect.

So, he’d asked her to choose what they should do. Her choice surprised and delighted him—and reminded him why he loved her so much.

She came back downstairs wearing a pair of blue jeans that had seen many, many better days, a threadbare t-shirt that she’d probably had in middle school, and a flannel jacket that looked to be a failed experiment from when she was less skilled with the needle. It was adorable on her. And it had a lot more character than the year-old-and-still-perfectly-fine jeans and sweatshirt he had on. But this was the grungiest he could come up with. Gabriel Agreste’s son was not allowed to possess any clothing not fit to be photographed in.

Marinette bounced down the stairs and stood before him, taking in their two outfits. “I feel like I overshot what you meant by disposable.”

“No, I undershot. Sorry, this is the best I could do. I’d ask to borrow some of your clothes instead, but I have a feeling they wouldn’t fit.”

“Oh, you never know.” Her cheeks turned pink at whatever she’d been thinking, then she fumbled out her phone. “Speaking of which, I have to show you this. I haven’t been able to show _anyone_ , and it’s so funny, it’s killing me.” She thrust the screen into his face. It was a photo of himself as Ladybug. And without even the dignity of some time to pose properly. He had one foot on the chaise longue and a stupid, surprised look on his face. “It’s fine now, but during the Supermodel fight, I got taken out and Cat Noir had to be Ladybug to save me. Doesn’t he look hilarious?”

Adrien tried to laugh, but it came out tight and forced. He didn’t think himself-as-Ladybug looked hilarious so much as himself-as-Ladybug looked way more like _himself_ than himself-as-Cat-Noir did. “Hilarious,” he squeaked. He jumped to his feet and pushed her hand—and the phone—back toward her pocket. “It’s, uh, probably good you can’t show that to anyone else. People put a lot of trust in Ladybug and her ability to save them. It shouldn’t get out that there was any time when Ladybug—uh . . .”

“Failed?” The weight of that failure settled over her, and she stowed the phone away as if ashamed of it.

 _No, it was my failure._ “Wasn’t invincible,” he corrected.

That clearly sat better with her, though she still didn’t like it. “Ladybug’s not invincible.”

“She has to be,” Adrien said, and what he meant was both _People need to believe she is_ and _Because I couldn’t bear it if I lost you_.

But now he was deep in the dark thoughts again, and they’d spread to Marinette, which was the exact opposite of what was supposed to be happening right now.

“If you’re ready, we’d better go,” he said. “My bodyguard’s waiting.”

“Let me go tell my parents I’m leaving.” She went downstairs, was gone for only a minute or two, and came back in much better spirits. “Okay! Let’s go shoot some . . . Um, what are we shooting again?”

“Each other.”

“We’re shooting each other?”

“That’s the goal.”

She got nervous and giggly, so he took her hand and led her out the door to his car.

As they drove, Adrien explained the rules—and then Marinette pointed out that since they were the only two people playing, they could make up whatever rules they wanted. So he pointed out which ones were _safety_ rules. Then he showed her how to use the new night vision goggles he’d bought. The ones they’d used while fighting Supermodel had been left at the scene of the fight, and he hoped they’d at least been picked up by the police for use in raiding a drug den or something, and not by some peeping tom. The new ones he’d gotten were nice enough to be high-end but simple enough for a newbie to use easily. The design was different too, which he hoped would make them less a reminder to Marinette of her . . . lack of invincibility.

They left Paris and drove out to a spot in the countryside, where a guy named Pierre owned several acres of woodland. Pierre had been a friend of Adrien’s mother’s, which was why he’d neither spoken to Pierre nor played paintball on his property for over a year.

The sun was setting when the car pulled up in Pierre’s driveway. Adrien’s bodyguard stayed in the car while Adrien hopped out and headed for the house. Pierre, a big man with a big laugh, met him out on the walk with a bear hug.

“Adrien! It’s been too long! You’ve grown!”

“Hi, Pierre. Thanks so much for letting my friend and me come out to play tonight.”

“Your friend?” Pierre looked past him to where Marinette stood nervously by the car, then gave Adrien a wink. “I thought she was your date.”

Adrien rubbed the back of his head. “Heh. She is my date, isn’t she? But she’s also my friend. I’m . . . on a date with my friend?” He hadn’t meant for that to sound like he wasn’t sure. But . . . he was kind of still in awe that it was actually happening.

Pierre laughed and cuffed him on the shoulder. “Friends make the best dates.” Then he winked _again_. “And wives.”

Adrien could feel heat rising to his face. Hopefully Marinette would think it was the light of the sunset. “I’m fourteen, Pierre.”

“Never to early to plan for the future.”

“I can’t argue with that.”

Pierre walked with him back to the car, booming a greeting. “Hello, young lady! I am Pierre!”

She waved, probably to avoid the bear hug that the strange giant was threatening her with, his arms spread wide. “Hi, Pierre! I’m Marinette. Thanks for having us out.”

“It is my pleasure to host my friend Adrien and his future wife.”

Adrien’s heart jumped into his throat.

“What?” Marinette tittered. “Wife? Me? No. What? No. I mean, maybe? No. What?”

Adrien blinked.

Had she just . . .

Had she said _maybe_?

Well . . . after kind of a rough start, this date was going all right. They’d barely even begun, and he’d already gotten a soft yes on a secondhand proposal.

Okay, technically he’d gotten three _no_ s and a _maybe_ , but it sounded like a soft yes to him.

He went around to the trunk and started pulling out gear. First was the body armor, a big, articulated piece made of hard plastic which covered the torso from neck to groin. He held one and handed the other to Marinette. “Watch me.”

“I always do!” she chirped, then smiled sheepishly.

 _Do you, now?_ Going slowly enough for her to follow along, he got the armor on and strapped in place. When she had hers on, he hooked his fingers along the edges, tugging to make sure she’d secured it correctly. Which she must not have been expecting, because she stumbled forward and fell against his chest. “Ah, good,” he said, gently pushing her back. “You’ve got that on right.”

Ignoring Pierre’s twinkling amusement, Adrien walked Marinette through the rest of the gear and showed her how to use the paintball rifles.

“Are you gonna be okay using these with that?” Marinette asked, pointing to his wrist brace.

“It’s fine. My wrist is actually feeling a lot better, so I can hold the gun with it no problem.” He demonstrated, using his left hand to support the barrel while his right held the stock. “It’s not as heavy as a real rifle, anyway.”

“But it’s still a disadvantage.”

“Have you ever played paintball before?”

“No.”

“I have. I’d say that evens us out.” Though it didn’t, since he wasn’t actually injured, although he did have to work around the wrist brace. It was only an excuse to make her feel better, though, since he really didn’t think she’d need him to have a handicap.

When they were all geared up and ready, Adrien went over the rules they’d agreed on in the car. “One, no head shots.” They were wearing helmets that covered most of their faces, but the game would be over if one of them got paint on the lenses of the others’ night vision goggles. “Two”—he leaned close to whisper in her ear so Pierre wouldn’t hear—“no transforming and using superpowers.” He didn’t think she would have, but Marinette could be wily, so it was probably good to get it out there. Though he thought it would be even more fun to play _with_ their superpowers. Maybe one day. “Three, one hit per engagement, then we run in opposite directions for ten seconds. The game ends when we’re both out of ammo, and the one with the most paint on them loses.”

“Got it!” She held up her container of extra ammo. There was a big mix of colors, the better to differentiate individual hits.

“And take this.” He handed her a small but powerful flashlight, keeping another for himself. “In case of emergency. Ready?”

She held the paintball rifle aloft, a gleam of competition in her eyes. “Ready.”

They put on their night vision goggles, went into the woods, and spent a couple hours hunting each other like animals.


	21. Chapter 21

Adrien ran out of paintballs before Marinette did, but that didn’t mean he was going to make the rest of the game easier on her. Since the game only ended when they both ran out, he couldn’t hide somewhere and wait out a clock. But he couldn’t let her hit him too many more times either if he wanted to win. So for ten minutes, he ducked from tree to tree, not quite as stealthy as a cat, circling her, calling out to her, getting her to spend her ammo shooting at him while not allowing her to actually hit him.

In the dark, green glow of night vision, Adrien circled Marinette, staying low, dropping to creep on hands and feet behind some bushes. “What are you waiting for?” he asked. She spun toward his voice, and he ducked behind a tree trunk as a paintball zipped past. He stuck his head out on the other side of the trunk. “Too slow.”

“Why you hiding, scaredy cat? Afraid of a girl?”

“Afraid of you, Milady? Perish the thought.”

The end of her rifle dipped suddenly.

 _Milady_. The word rang in his ears. With their faces covered by the masks and goggles, having fun with her like this, he’d fallen into Cat Noir behavior. He’d forgotten who he was to her right now. Especially after she called him _scaredy cat_ , which was a perfectly normal taunt for anyone.

Had she noticed? Had she figured him out?

If she hadn’t, he couldn’t give her time to think about it. Adrien burst out from behind the tree, charging at her, giving her something far more immediate to worry about than if what she’d heard had any significance.

She let out a surprised shriek and fired her weapon straight at his chest as he came at her.

No paintball came out. Her gun was empty. The game was over.

Unfortunately, Adrien had too much momentum and was too close to her to stop. She tried to twist away from him, and he tried to twist away, and they ended up colliding with a grunt and a yelp, tumbling through the underbrush.

When he next got his bearings, he found himself lying on top of her in a tangle of limbs. “Marinette, are you okay?” He tried to get off of her, but some part of her gear was hooked into the plates of his body armor. He shifted this way and that, trying to dislodge it.

“A-Adrien? What are you doing?”

He stopped moving. “I’m, uh, stuck on you.”

She let out a surprised breath. Then a hitch like a stifled laugh. Then exploded into full-blown laughter that made her whole body shake. Which made him shake, which made the whole situation all the more ridiculous, and he started laughing along with her.

When they both calmed down, he told her, “I’m not sure what’s stuck here, but I’m going to try to pull it away.” There wasn’t much of her that he could accidentally touch while she was wearing body armor, but it was always best to give warning in case somehow he managed it. She lay still, and he found the buckle of her body armor which was wedged into the front of his and pulled it free.

They untangled their limbs and helped each other to their feet. “We’re both out of ammo,” he said.

“Who won?”

They looked at themselves and each other, comparing paint. Some of the fresher spots were smeared from their tumble, and some of that paint must have transferred, but a lot of the paint had already dried.

“It looks like I have the most paint on me,” he said.

She pointed to her chest. “True, but most of the paint on me is on my body—where, if it were real, it would actually do the most damage. Most of my hits to you are on your arms and legs.”

“Location of the hits wasn’t part of the rules we agreed on.”

“No, but it should have been.”

He held out his hand for her to shake. “Why don’t we call it a draw, then?”

She grasped his hand firmly. “Deal.”

They retrieved their guns and picked their way back out of the woods. After they got back to the car and stowed all the gear, Pierre called to them from the house. “Who won?”

“Both of us!” Marinette called back.

Pierre laughed. “Good! How about some dessert? Ellie made chocolate mousse!”

They went inside, said hello to Pierre’s wife, and were given glasses of water and dishes of mousse. Because they were both still covered in paint, they went to the back porch to eat it. The night was mild, and the porch was well-lit and private. They sat on a wooden bench together.

Adrien took small bites of the mousse, savoring it. “I’m really glad we did this. Did you have fun?”

“Heck, yeah! That was awesome! It’s . . . it’s like a dream.”

“You’ve dreamt about paintball?”

Marinette played in the mousse with her spoon. “Not that. Going on a date . . . with you. I can’t believe it’s really happening. I can’t believe I’m finally on a date with Adrien Agreste.”

“I can’t believe I’m finally on a date with Ladybug,” he sighed.

She turned a look on him that was surprise and hurt with a strong hint of bitter disappointment.

 _Uh-oh_. “What did I say?”

She kept staring at him, face twitching with different emotions but edging ever closer to something that looked like she was about to cry.

He set his mousse on the bench. “Marinette? What did I say?”

“You . . . you only started liking me when you found out I’m Ladybug, didn’t you?”

“Well . . .” That wasn’t the best way to put it. But he couldn’t think of a better way that wouldn’t necessitate revealing his own secret. “Kind of. I guess. Why?”

The next second, she was on her feet and heading back to the house.

“Wait!” He ran to her, catching her by the wrist. “Marinette, what did I say?”

Her face stayed turned away from him, even after he moved in front of her. “You only like me because I’m Ladybug.”

Still not quite right, but still kind of true. “I love _you_. What does it matter whether I call you Ladybug or Marinette?”

She blinked up at him, shock in her wide, blue eyes. “You l-love me?”

 _Whoops_. Not how he’d meant to reveal that. “Yes. I do. You’re amazing and brave and awesome and did I say amazing? What’s not to love?”

“And invincible?” she asked, but something about her tone made him think it was a trick question.

“Almost.”

She tried to turn from him, but he held her arm, not letting her escape. “Marinette, what’s wrong? If I’ve hurt you, tell me how so I can fix it.”

With the hand he wasn’t holding, she rubbed at her eyes. Brushing away tears. _No no no! What happened? Things were going so well!_

“It’s not your fault,” she said. “You didn’t do anything wrong.”

“You’re crying, so obviously I did.”

“You didn’t. It’s me. I wanted . . .”

“What?”

“I wanted you to like _me_. Not Ladybug.”

Adrien was even more confused now. “But, you _are_ Ladybug.” He’d seen it for himself. There was no question about that.

“I’m only Ladybug some of the time, and I probably won’t always _be_ Ladybug. What happens when Hawk Moth is defeated and Ladybug isn’t needed anymore, and . . . and you end up stuck with Marinette even after Ladybug is gone?”

“Stuck with . . . ? Marinette, what are you talking about? I love _you_. It doesn’t matter if you’re in costume or not.”

“It’s not just a costume. It’s . . . I’m different when I’m Ladybug. I’m not a clumsy, babbling wreck.”

“You’re not _that_ different.” He’d thought so at first, but the more he saw of both sides of her, the more he believed he’d been wrong.

“How would you know?” With a flash of anger, she pulled her arm out of his grip. “You don’t even know me as Ladybug! I’ve saved you a couple times, but that’s it. Ladybug’s just a superhero to you. Just a blog and a headline and an Instagram I don’t even run.”

“That’s not true!” He almost blurted out the truth, that he knew Ladybug better than anyone except Tikki. Then her words sunk in farther and he got what she was saying. “Wait, you—you think this is some celebrity crush?!”

“Isn’t it?”

“You think I don’t know what a celebrity crush looks like? Me?”

“Yeah, I get it, Adrien. You’re a big-time model. You could get any girl you want. That’s all the more reason you won’t want me when I’m not Ladybug anymore. You’ll see that you settled for some normal, klutzy, awkward girl when you could have had any girl you wanted.”

“You’re wrong, Marinette! I want you. I don’t care if you’re Ladybug or not, because it’s all still you underneath.”

She spun on him. “Is it?!”

Her vehemence shocked him so badly, he rocked back on his heels. “Yes,” he said in a weak, pleading voice. “Who else would it be?”

Marinette turned her back to him, gripping her elbows. “I’d like to go home, please.”

They didn’t speak the whole ride back.


	22. Chapter 22

Marinette refused to look at him the next day in class.

“What did you do now?” Nino asked.

Adrien was in no mood to defend himself. “I told her I love her.”

“Whoa, what? Did you mean it?”

“Yes.”

“And . . . now she isn’t speaking to you?”

“Looks that way.”

Nino glanced behind them to Marinette. From his expression, Adrien guessed she wouldn’t meet his eyes either. “I don’t know, man,” Nino commiserated. “ _Girls_.”

Since having lunch with Marinette and Alya was out, and Nino would probably ask for details he couldn’t give him, Adrien went home for lunch. He was surprised to find his dad there.

“Father?”

Gabriel didn’t look up from his screen. “Hello, Adrien. How did your date with that girl go last night?”

Sure, _now_ his dad takes an interest. “Pretty well, up until the end. We . . . had an argument.”

“Women can be fickle.”

“She’s not fickle! She’s—” He sighed. “She thinks _I’m_ fickle.”

“Considering your age and who you are, you have every right to be.”

“I’m _not_ —”

“There is a task I was intending to have you do, but if the girl is upset with you, perhaps it’s better if I send Natalie.”

Adrien processed that statement for a while, trying to make sense of it. “What are you talking about?”

“I’ve had a chance to review the photos from Saturday’s shoot. Including those which led to your injury.”

“Really?”

“Considering the inconvenience they cost us, I thought I’d at least see if there was anything to salvage from them.”

Adrien didn’t love the idea of his dad analyzing those shots with Marinette with his critical eye. They were too personal. “And?”

“I’d like to use one of them in the magazine spread. To do so, she and her parent must sign a model release.” He handed Adrien a piece of paper.

Adrien gaped at the paper in his hand. His father wanted to use one of the photos with Marinette? A sample of the photo was stapled behind the release. It was the one of him trapping her against the column. It was playful and cute and . . .

He sighed. How had things gotten so complicated between them? “I’ll take it to them.”

“Are you certain she’ll sign it?”

“It’s a good photo.” He scanned the release. It included a clause regarding payment. “And this is probably more money than she’d pass up just because she’s angry with me.” Besides, he wanted an excuse to visit her, now that _Just because I like you_ was probably not going to work.

“Good. Have it done by tonight.”

“Yes, Father.”

Later in the afternoon, during P.E., Adrien faked a stomachache so he could transform and skip class. Half-way across the city, he dropped into an alley and changed back.

The jeweler had a website that was simple and to the point. Adrien found the shop to be the same way. They didn’t actually sell jewelry except incidentally, mostly doing repairs and occasional custom design work. It was the latter that he was here for.

An old man hunched over a work table. There was no counter, and the cash register was old and tucked away in a corner. Adrien stood in the shop for a good ten seconds before the jeweler looked up from his work. “Can I help you, son?”

“Hello,” Adrien said. “Your website said you create custom jewelry.”

“On occasion, yes,” said the old man. “But I’m quite busy at the moment. I’m booked several months out.”

Adrien’s shoulders fell. But it wasn’t quite a no, so he might as well keep trying. “I’m hoping the piece I want will be simple to make. I need it very quickly, but I can pay for the rush.”

“Hmm,” said the jeweler, and waved him closer. “What is it you need?”

“See this ring?” Adrien held up his hand. “I need an exact duplicate. It’s for, uh, my girlfriend. She wants us to have matching rings, but she likes this one, and I don’t remember where I got it. The rush is, um, because her birthday’s in a couple days and I’d like to surprise her with it.”

The jeweler’s expression softened at the lie. Maybe he was a romantic. “Let me see it.”

Adrien hesitated to take it off, but he had no reason to think this old man had anything to do with Hawk Moth, nor did the jeweler seem to be in danger of getting akumatized in the next few minutes. “Okay.” He slid it off and passed it to the man, his fingers already itching to grab it back. “But I can’t leave it. Or else she’ll notice and guess the surprise.”

The jeweler put his magnifying monocle on and examined the Miraculous. “Yes, it is a fairly simple design. Is this silver?”

“Um, maybe? I’m not sure. The duplicate doesn’t have to be silver. Whatever will look the same and you can get quickly.”

“A couple days, you said?”

“Ideally, yes.”

The jeweler thought it over, turning the ring in his gnarled fingers. “Yes, I can fit that in. It won’t be cheap, though.”

“That’s not a problem.”

“If you can’t leave it with me, I’ll need to take some photos. One moment.” The jeweler set the ring on a smooth, blue velvet cloth and took out a smartphone. He fiddled with the phone for a really long time before putting it back in his pocket and holding the ring out for Adrien.

Trying not to appear to have missed it too much, Adrien took the Miraculous and slid it back on. “Thank you, sir. I’ll be back in two days.”

“What name should I put it under?” the jeweler asked as Adrien turned to leave.

“Um . . . none. My girlfriend is . . . very persistent. If she at all suspects I’m doing this, she might call around and trick you into giving her information. I’ll come by to pick it up myself in two days.”

The old man smiled fondly. “All right, son. I’ll have it ready.”

After school, Adrien’s bodyguard was waiting for him in the car. Adrien knew Alya and Marinette were walking behind him, slowly enough that they were clearly trying _not_ to catch up with him, so after he got in the car, Adrien asked to be driven around for a while. That gave Marinette the chance to get home and feel like she’d safely escaped him by the time his bodyguard dropped him off in front of the bakery. Plus, he wanted to wait until the bakery was closed so her parents would be available.

When he knocked on the door to their home, Adrien half-expected to not be allowed inside, but Marinette’s dad greeted him warmly. So, she hadn’t said anything too bad about their date. “Hello, sir. Is Marinette home?”

“Sure is. She’s up in her room. I’m getting dinner ready, so why don’t you go on up?”

“Thank you, sir.” As he passed the kitchen, the scent of spices and cooking meat hit him. His personal chef was one of the best in Paris, but Adrien would love to give him the day off if it meant his father would make dinner, no matter how inedible it turned out.

As soon as Adrien knocked on her door, he heard Marinette call, “Come in!”

 _She wouldn’t say that so_ _quickly_ _if she knew it was me._ But he couldn’t afford to risk getting turned away before he did what he came here to do, so he went in.

Marinette’s back was to him, hunched over something at her desk. He almost didn’t want to disturb her and get into another argument. His gaze drifted to her walls, and his heart sank.

She’d taken down the pictures of him.

Did that mean he’d already lost her?

“Marinette?” he said softly.

She jolted and spun as if he’d shouted at her. “A-Adrien? What are you doing here?”

“Don’t worry, this isn’t about us. My father asked me to come.”

“Your f-father? What does _he_ want? I mean—wh-why would he want me for anything?”

Adrien took a seat on the chaise longue. “He wants to use one of the photos of us as part of a magazine spread.”

“What?! M-me? In a m-magazine? With y-y-you?” She was stuttering again, which made him smile. Maybe she hadn’t gotten over him so quickly after all. Maybe taking down the photos meant she was only _trying_ to get over him. But though he could see that the magazine idea thrilled her, she forced her face to go stern. “No. I—I don’t think that would be a good idea.”

He told her how much it paid, and her eyes bugged out. So, it was more to her even than he’d guessed. He felt so out of touch sometimes. Holding out the paper, he said, “If you agree, all you have to do is sign this release. But since you’re a minor, you need one of your parents to sign it too. There’s a copy of the photo there so they can see which one Father wants to use, although the release would allow him to use any of them for whatever he wanted. I’m sure if they have any concerns, they could talk to Natalie or my father about it.”

Her hand shook when she took the paper from him. “Okay. I’ll think about it.”

“Um.” He bit his lip. “Father wanted this done tonight. If you wait any later, he’ll probably say to forget it. He . . . doesn’t like hassle. Why don’t I wait here, and you can go talk to your parents about it?”

“I—uh . . .” Marinette looked around worriedly but didn’t find anything for her worry to land on. She flipped to the photo to see which it was and her face softened in a smile. “Okay. I will.”

She went downstairs, leaving Adrien alone in her room. He counted to thirty to make sure she wouldn’t come right back up and then said, “Tikki, come out. I need to talk to you.”

A little red blur flew down from Marinette’s bed. “I know what you want to talk about, Adrien,” she said in the cutest little voice he’d ever heard.

“I don’t think you do, Tikki.” He opened his jacket, and Plagg flew out.

“You want to tell Marinette you’re Cat Noir so she’ll understand why you love her.” Tikki went on as if proving him wrong. “But it’s too dangerous.”

“And she doesn’t want me to. I know, Tikki.”

“Right, so you shouldn’t—Wait. You know?”

Plagg was searching the room for food, but that didn’t keep him out of the conversation. “You think Adrien came here to get _looove_ advice? He’s got bigger problems to worry about.”

Now they had her attention. “What problems?”

Adrien held up his hand, showing his ring, as if he needed a visual aid. “When Natalie got akumatized, the first thing she did was go after my ring.”

“That’s not abnormal. Supervillains always try to get your Miraculous.”

“I _wasn’t_ transformed yet,” he said.

She goggled at him in shock.

“And since I wasn’t expecting it, she _got_ it.”

“What?!” Tikki squeaked.

“That’s why I was missing most of the fight. I was trying to get it back. I did, as you can see, but it was too close. Tentacula went straight for my ring as soon as she transformed, which means—”

“Hawk Moth knows who you are!”

“Or has a strong enough suspicion to act on it. I’m hoping that he doesn’t know with a hundred percent certainty.”

Tikki flew around in worried circles. “This is terrible news! How did he find out?”

“I don’t know. I haven’t transformed in front of anyone that I know of.”

“This changes things. Adrien, now you _should_ tell Marinette so you two can come up with a plan.”

Plagg bumped his fellow kwami to get her to stop spinning frantic circles. “Hold your horses, Tikki. We already have a plan.”

It was tempting, so tempting, to use this as an excuse to tell Marinette, but Plagg was right. He needed to stick to the plan. If the plan worked, things would go back to normal, and Marinette would be able to live free of his secret until she was ready for it.

“You do?” Tikki asked, sounding both relieved and dubious.

Adrien nodded. “We need to convince Hawk Moth that I’m not Cat Noir. There’s only one way I can think of to do that.”

“Adrien,” Tikki said, her concern growing. “What are you planning?”

Adrien clenched his fist in determination. “I’m going to let him akumatize me.”


	23. Chapter 23

“What do you _mean_ you’re going to let Hawk Moth akumatize you?!” Tikki screeched. It was a good thing she was so small, or that would have definitely been loud enough for those downstairs to hear.

“It’s the only way, Tikki,” said Adrien. “And I need to do it soon, before he tries to get my ring again when I’m not transformed.”

“But it’s too dangerous!”

“It’s _more_ dangerous to let him go on thinking I’m Cat Noir! Until we convince him otherwise, everyone around me is in danger of being akumatized. I won’t be able to go anywhere without people constantly getting turned into supervillains and coming after me. I can’t stay on my toes twenty-four/seven. Sooner or later, Hawk Moth will succeed, and then he’ll have my Miraculous, and Ladybug will be on her own.”

Tikki zipped around, going one way, pausing, going another way, like a bug trapped in an invisible box. She was trying to think of another way to deal with this and couldn’t.

“Tikki, Plagg told me that Miraculous holders can’t be akumatized while we have our Miraculous on. So if Hawk Moth is able to akumatize me, he’ll know I’m not wearing a Miraculous.”

“But if you take it off, he’ll only see that you’re not wearing it!” she pointed out. “That won’t change his mind about you.”

“Oh, but I’ll be wearing it. Or rather, a duplicate of it. I’m having a replica made so that I’ll be wearing a ring that looks just like my Miraculous. I’m guessing he’ll even send the akuma into it, since that’s what he did when he turned Chloe into Antibug and when he turned Lila into Volpina.”

Tikki shook her head. “Why would he try to akumatize you, though? There are millions of people in Paris. Why would he choose you?”

“I’ve been thinking about that. I think he’ll want to check for himself if I can be akumatized. I think he only recently found out somehow, and Tentacula was meant to surprise me before I suspected and get him my ring. But now he knows I know and that I’ll be expecting more attacks. He could spend the effort of one supervillain on a hunch, but if he’s going to be focusing all his efforts on trying to get my ring, he’ll want to be absolutely sure it’s a Miraculous. So I think there’s a good chance he’ll try to akumatize me soon to find out if he can.”

“How do you know he hasn’t tried already?” Tikki asked.

“I’m sure I’d have noticed a black butterfly coming for me, and I haven’t seen one.”

“But if it works, and you become a supervillain, Cat Noir won’t be around to help Ladybug stop you.”

Adrien showed his teeth. “Yes, he will.”

Plagg drifted by, already sulking. “He’s going to ditch me _again_.”

Tikki gasped. “You’re going to give your Miraculous to someone else?”

“Only temporarily.”

Tikki spun on Plagg like she might slap him. “And you’re going along with this?”

“I don’t think we have a choice, Tikki,” said Plagg. “He’s right.”

“But Adrien, if you choose the wrong person, you might never get it back! Worse, we might end up with a _second_ villain like Hawk Moth to deal with!”

“I know the risk, Tikki. Believe me, I’m not doing this lightly.”

She flew up close, inches away from his face. “This is a big thing to trust someone with, Adrien. Are you sure you know someone that reliable?”

“I . . . I think so.”

“Think?!”

“I trust him enough to risk it. Which means that soon there’s going to be a different Cat Noir. Ladybug might not recognize me as Cat Noir without the mask, but I’m pretty sure she’ll notice if Cat Noir is suddenly an entirely different person. I’ll need to tell her, but I wanted to make sure you knew what was happening, as well as the real reason why.”

Tikki was shaking her head. “There are too many variables, Adrien. We need to—”

The sound of footsteps came from the stairs. Tikki zipped back into hiding just before the door opened and Marinette came back in. She handed the paper to Adrien.

It was signed.

He wasn’t sure why, but that made him happy. “Your parents were okay with it?”

“They had some concerns. Something about, um, unwanted attention. But they talked it out and decided it was too exciting an opportunity to pass up.” She fidgeted awkwardly. “So, um . . .” She didn’t have anything else to say. She was just waiting for him to leave.

Adrien stood. “Thanks, Marinette. I’ll give this to my dad as soon as I get home.” Then, because something inside him couldn’t resist, he stepped close and kissed her on the cheek. “I really do love you. I think one day you’ll believe me, but I’m not going to push you. If you just want to be friends for now, I’m more than happy with that.” He left before she felt obligated to respond.

Several hours later, Cat Noir snuck out the the Agreste mansion to prowl the night. There was no supervillain. No crisis that he knew of. This was a stealth mission.

He’d never actually been to Nino’s house, but he knew where it was, and he found it without much trouble. It was late enough that he hoped everyone would be asleep. Going from window to window, he searched until he found Nino sleeping soundly in his bed. Crouched low near the sill, Cat Noir quietly scratched on the glass until Nino started awake.

When Nino saw him in the window, he leapt out of bed and hid behind it. Cat Noir waved and smiled. Nino grabbed his glasses from his nightstand, put them on, and stood straight in shock. Then he rushed to the window and threw it open.

“Cat Noir?” Nino whispered loudly. “What are you doing here?”

Cat Noir said, “It’s not for cat burglary, if that’s what you’re thinking,” which got a confused laugh out of Nino. “Can I come in?”

“Yeah, dude.” Nino stood aside, and Cat Noir climbed in, closing the window behind him. No need to risk the wind carrying their conversation where it shouldn’t go.

“I need your help, Nino. Not now, but soon.”

“Yeah, whatever you need, man! I can’t believe Cat Noir needs my help!”

“Quiet!” Cat Noir hissed. “This is a top secret superhero mission, okay? You have to promise not to tell _anybody_ about this.”

“Absolutely, dude. For sure. What’s the mission?”

“I need to leave town for a while, but Paris still needs Cat Noir, and so does Ladybug. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to be my stand-in.”

Nino’s jaw dropped. “Wait. You mean—”

“I need you to be Cat Noir for a day or two. Are you up for it?”

Nino’s voice went a couple octaves higher but didn’t get louder. “Are you serious?!”

Cat Noir nodded.

“Absolutely! I will absolutely be a superhero for you! This is awesome! Wait until Alya finds out—”

“No one, Nino. No one means no one.”

“Oh, right, of course,” he said, trying to force himself serious. “I promise. But dude, my girlfriend runs the Ladyblog. She will kill me, resurrect me, and then kill me again if she finds out I didn’t tell her about this.”

“Love is dangerous,” Cat Noir said with a shrug. “But secrecy is a requirement for the job.”

Nino visibly struggled with this for a few seconds. Cat Noir was sympathetic. Finally, Nino gave an actually serious nod. “I won’t tell anyone. But . . . why me?”

“Why _not_ you?”

“Okay, yeah, but . . . you don’t do this often, do you? Go around to random guys and ask them to fill in for you?”

“This is the first time. But you’re not a random guy. I’m asking you because I know I can trust you.”

“You do? How?”

“Uh . . .” Cat Noir tried to look wise and mystical. “Magic. We have . . . secret insights. And they tell me that you can be trusted to use this power wisely.”

“They do?” Nino said, properly awestruck.

Cat Noir nodded. “They’re not wrong, are they?”

Nino shook his head furiously. “They’re not! They’re totally right! You can trust me!”

“And I can trust you to return the Miraculous to me when I come back, right?”

“Sure, Cat Noir! No problem!”

Cat Noir put a hand on his friend’s shoulder. “Good.” He gave him a scrap of paper. “Meet me at this park on Friday at four p.m. And hang onto this.” He handed him a blond wig. It wasn’t perfect, but close enough that hopefully it would fool everyone but Ladybug. “You’ll need it.”

 


	24. Chapter 24

When he came into school on Thursday, Adrien was determined to act exactly as he had before he found out that Marinette was Ladybug—before he learned that she was the girl he loved. He needed to show her that he’d meant what he’d said. If she didn’t want to accept him as a love interest, he could deal with that, but he couldn’t deal with losing her friendship.

He came into the classroom a few minutes before school started, and Alya, Marinette, and Nino were already in their seats. “Hey, guys,” Adrien said as he sat, giving the group a friendly wave and offering Marinette no special treatment. “What’s up?”

“Maybe you can tell us,” Alya said, resting her head in her hand like she was already worn out and gesturing at her boyfriend. “Nino’s acting totally weird.”

Adrien gave Nino a questioning look.

Nino had his lips pursed tight, and his eyes were huge and guilty, like there was a big secret he was fighting desperately to hold in. “I’m not acting weird!” he puffed before clamping his lips shut again.

Adrien smiled and tried not to let it get too devious. He’d set himself up a great opportunity for some fun—and to test Nino’s reliability _prior_ to handing him a Miraculous. “You’re right, Alya. He does seem weird. What’s up, Nino?”

“Nothing!” Nino blurted. “I’m normal! _You’re_ weird! Hey, what’s going on with you and Marinette?”

 _Ouch. Good deflection._ “Uh, what? Nothing’s going on.”

He had turned in his seat to face Nino and look back at the girls, so he didn’t know that Chloe was even paying attention to them until she snapped, “Nothing’s going on, huh?”

Adrien twisted the other way. Chloe stood beside him, arms crossed, looking between him and Marinette with a satisfied smirk.

“Adrien got bored with you already, Marinette? That was fast. Not that I’m surprised.”

Marinette’s face darkened, though Adrien couldn’t tell whether it was from anger or embarrassment.

“Actually, Chloe,” Adrien said, hoping to intervene before a fight broke out, “Marinette was the one who rejected me.”

Several feminine gasps came from farther up the seating, and Alix muttered, “No way.”

Chloe shrieked, “What?! Impossible! She wouldn’t dare!”

In a whisper loud enough to carry, Mylene said, “But Marinette’s been in love with Adrien forever,” to someone near her, only to realize too late how loudly she’d spoken when Adrien’s eyes snapped to her.

“No, I—er, I mean—” Marinette stuttered.

 _Forever, huh?_ Adrien shrugged, trying to play it off like a passing high school crush. “Sometimes wanting something turns out to be more fun than having it.” He was only trying to make sure the class didn’t hound her, but he hoped she wouldn’t think he meant that _he_ felt that way.

“I always knew Marinette had terrible taste,” Chloe said, “but I didn’t know she was actually _crazy_.” She leaned her hands on her desk, closing into his space. “So, Adrikins, I guess this means you’re still single, huh?”

“Single and, uh, _not_ looking, Chloe.”

Chloe huffed and returned to her seat.

After class, Adrien walked out beside Marinette so he could say, “Sorry about the scene. It’s my fault. If I hadn’t acted weird on Monday and gotten everyone’s attention, this whole little drama could have passed without anyone else noticing.”

Maybe his casual manner was working, because her shoulders relaxed. “No, it’s my fault, too. I’m the one who wasn’t smart enough to know you were flirting and totally overreacted. I’m the one who’s been crushing on you so hard that all the other girls already knew about it. And I’m the one who . . .” She turned her face away from him.

He stopped, took her by the shoulders, and made her look at him. “You don’t need to apologize for your feelings, Marinette. It’s not a crime for a girl to like a boy, or for her to change her mind about him. Can we . . . put all this behind us and get back to being friends?”

There was something sad in her eyes, but she smiled and nodded. “I do want us to be friends.”

“Me, too. Now, then.” He turned to stand beside her and rested his elbow on her shoulder, watching Nino, who was several yards away eating a packet of chips like he’d forgotten how to eat. “What do you think is up with Nino?”

“I don’t know, but he _does_ seem weird today.”

“Let’s ask him.” Adrien went over to where Nino was standing. His friend was still jerkily eating chips, spilling half of them as pulverized crumbs to the ground. “Hey, Nino.”

“Hey, Adrien!” Nino shoved the packet of chips behind his back, only to realize that he had no reason to hide them, then kept trying to eat as if nothing had happened. “Hi, Marinette!”

“You know, Nino,” said Adrien, “if I didn’t know better, I’d think you were hiding something.”

“What?!” Nino yelped. “Why would you think that?”

“You’re behaving very strangely.”

“No, I’m not!” Nino said, crossing his arms as if to look casual, but the chips were still in his hand when he shoved it under his arm. The sound of crunching chips spoke up like another party to the conversation.

“Are you sure you don’t have a secret?” Adrien asked. “Something you’d like to tell your best bud?”

Nino’s face drained of some of its color. “Nope,” he squeaked.

Marinette put a hand on Adrien's elbow. “Hey, go easy on him. Even if he does have a secret, we should respect that and not bother him. Right?” Her pointed look left no room for argument.

“Heh.” Adrien patted Nino on the arm. “Right. I’m just messing with you, Nino.”

Nino let out a relieved whoosh of air. But Adrien wasn’t done messing with him yet.

At lunch, the four of them sat at a little café, eating burgers. Wanting to make sure Marinette had plenty of space, Adrien was sitting next to Nino in the booth and across from Alya. They were all happily stuffing their faces. It was a nice, quiet moment between friends.

So Adrien said, “How’s the Ladyblog going, Alya?”

Beside him, Nino stiffened and shoved another bite into his mouth.

Alya perked up. “Great! I got most of the Tentacula fight on video. Ladybug was amazing, as usual!”

“She always is,” Adrien agreed benignly.

“I don’t know where Cat Noir was, though,” Alya went on. “He missed almost the entire fight!”

“He was probably at the vet,” Marinette said.

A surprised laugh burst out of Adrien, making him almost spill his water.

“Getting neutered,” Marinette added under her breath, but not under her breath enough for the whole table not to hear.

Which made Alya laugh and both of the boys cringe.

 _Yikes_. Maybe she was more upset about that fight than Adrien had thought.

“He was probably doing something important,” Nino said, more confidently than he’d said anything yet today. “Cat Noir’s cool. He wouldn’t bail on Ladybug like that unless he had a good reason.”

 _Thanks, buddy._ “I think Nino’s right,” Adrien added. “And Cat Noir did show up eventually, right?”

“After Ladybug did all the hard work,” said Marinette.

“He found where the akuma was hiding, didn’t he?” Adrien pointed out. The girls gave him a slightly questioning look at that, so he shrugged. “I watched the video. I like to keep up on what my friends are doing.” He smirked, knowing that only Marinette would fully understand that comment but it still made sense to the other two. Saying more than one thing at once was fun.

Marinette gave up the argument and hunkered back into her burger. Nino kept going like his hands had been untied after several hours of imprisonment. “And even if he did have to bail, I bet he’d find some way to make sure Ladybug wasn’t left alone.”

“Some way like what?” Adrien asked.

Nino almost said something, then thought better of it and bit his tongue. “I don’t know. Something. He’s a superhero. He must have ways. I don’t know, maybe—”

“Calling in backup?” Alya offered. “Remember that fox superhero that helped them out recently?”

“Rena Rouge?” Marinette piped up.

It sure would be nice if Adrien could call _her_ in for help. Even if he still needed Nino to be Cat Noir for him, he’d feel better knowing Ladybug had the extra backup, since Nino would be a superhero newbie. But he didn’t know where Ladybug had found her or how to get in touch with her again. “Do you think she’ll ever show up again? Not that Ladybug and Cat Noir don’t handle things, but it would sure be cool to have a third superhero in town.”

Suddenly, Alya was looking everywhere but directly at any of them. “I’m sure she’s around, if Ladybug really needs her again,” she said with a strange coyness.

Adrien blinked and darted a look at Marinette, who was picking at her burger as if doing so had become very important. The next second, Adrien found his eyes sweeping over Alya, searching for any jewelry he hadn’t noticed before. He didn’t find any.

_Could she be . . . ?_

_Nah._

But it made sense. If Marinette was going to give a Miraculous to anyone, it would be her best friend, wouldn’t it?

But where would she get a spare Miraculous? Did Ladybug know where there were more—

“I’m sure there are good reasons why there are only two superheros right now,” Marinette said. “And I’m sure if more are needed later, more will show up.”

Adrien narrowed her eyes at her. She was holding _something_ back. But he couldn’t ask her now, and he wasn’t sure he should ask her later. The Miraculouses had come to them mysteriously. He was told what he needed to know, and anything more was probably too dangerous for him to know. If Ladybug knew more than he did, then he trusted her to use the information wisely, and he’d follow her lead.

So he got back to teasing Nino.

“Well, if Ladybug’s looking for superhero volunteers, I’m game.”

From the corner of his eye, he saw Marinette’s startled expression, but it was Nino he watched. His friend’s face got stiff again, his mouth tightening, his eyes bulging.

“I’d love to be a superhero for a day. Wouldn’t you, Nino?”

Nino’s jaw was quivering now. He stared straight ahead as if afraid looking at anyone would make him burst. “Totally,” he agreed tightly. “That’d be cool.”

“R-really, Adrien?” Marinette asked.

He gave her a soft smile. “Sure. Why? Do you think I’m not brave enough?”

“N-no, it’s not that! You . . . don’t seem the type.”

His smile widened. “I don’t, do I?” He winked. “Maybe you don’t know _me_ as well as you think.”

For the rest of the day, Adrien did his best to pester Nino into spilling his big secret, but by the time school ended, Nino hadn’t so much as admitted there _was_ a secret. Impressed and gratified to know that his faith in his friend wasn’t misplaced, Adrien prepared for how he would break the news to Ladybug.


	25. Chapter 25

When Cat Noir came to Marinette’s window that night, he looked in to find her working at her computer. He tapped softly on the glass with his claws until she came and opened it.

“What is it, Cat Noir? Is there a supervillain?”

“Not that I’ve heard of, Milady. I simply wished to invite you on moonlit stroll across the skyline of Paris.”

Her surprise settled into a frown of annoyance, and he could see that she was about to say she didn’t have time for his nonsense, so he added more seriously, “There’s something important I need to tell you.”

He led her away to a private rooftop, where Cat Noir and Ladybug crouched on the edge like gargoyles.

“Okay, Cat Noir. What is it you needed to tell me?”

“I’ve got something I need to take care of, so I’ll be going away for a couple days.”

“Oh,” she said in a way that sounded like she’d been expecting worse news. “All right. Thanks for telling me. I can probably handle things alone for a couple days.”

“You won’t have to.”

“Huh?”

He shifted into a seated position, his legs dangling off the edge of the roof. “I’m going to give my Miraculous to someone I trust.”

She sat beside him. “Are you sure that’s a good idea?”

“It’s necessary.” He met her eyes. “I don’t want to leave you alone. And there’s . . . there’s another reason I need to do this, but I can’t tell you what it is.”

“Another reason? Why not?”

“It . . . has to do with . . . something you’ve said you don’t want to know about.”

Understanding settled into her features. “Oh.”

“Unless you’ve changed your mind?”

He could see her thinking about it, but in the end, she shook her head. “I haven’t.”

Cat Noir turned his attention to the city lights for a while before saying, “He’s never been a superhero before, so you may need to give him some pointers. But I think you’ll like him.”

“You’re not leaving me for good, are you, Kitty?” She ruffled his hair.

“Certainly not, Milady.” Not unless something went very wrong with the akumatization plan. “In fact, it’s probably best if you pretend he _is_ me, to the public. Hawk Moth shouldn’t know that Cat Noir ever left. He might find some way to use it against us later.”

“That makes sense.”

He’d basically said everything he needed to say, but he didn’t want to leave before he had to. He sat with her in silence, waiting for her to get up and go home, but she didn’t.

After a good five minutes, Ladybug said, “How are things going with that girl you like?”

He was _not_ prepared for that question, so he fumbled a little bit before saying, “Eh . . . up and down.”

“That’s too bad.” She watched her feet as she gently kicked them back and forth. “I was hoping your love life was going better than mine.”

Cat Noir didn’t know what he could say or _should_ say, so eventually he went with, “Oh?”

“Cat Noir, can I talk to you? About the . . . Adrien situation?”

Oh, good. He was a _situation_ now. “Um, Ladybug, I’m not sure that’s a great idea.”

“Why not?” she asked with pleading in her eyes.

 _Because I’m Adrien, and there’s probably a conflict of interest in giving you advice about how to deal with me._ “I know you know there’s a girl I like, but that doesn’t mean I’m over you, Ladybug. And I’m not really comfortable giving you romance advice when—”

Moonlight glinted off wetness in her eyes.

“Ladybug? Are you okay?”

She wiped the unshed tears away. “There’s no one else I can talk to about it.”

“What about your kwami?”

“Tikki’s great, and I have talked to her about it. But . . . I need some human advice.”

Cat Noir still _really_ wasn’t comfortable with this, but what could he say? He could see that he really was the only one she could talk to about it. If he refused, she wouldn’t know the real reason. All she’d know was that he was being a terrible friend, selfishly trying to protect his own heart when she needed him.

He scooted closer and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “All right, Bugaboo. How can I help?”

“I don’t know what to do. I’ve wanted Adrien to like me for so long, and now he does, so I should be happy, but I’m not and it’s all so _complicated_.”

 _That word again._ “Hold on.” He thought back to when the last time was that Cat Noir had discussed this with her. “He told you likes you back?”

“He told me he _loves_ me,” she said as if that fact made the whole thing worse.

“I can’t say I’m surprised.”

“Why?”

“What boy wouldn’t love you? Besides, I saw the photos of you two.”

She dismissed that evidence with a wave. “He’s a model. It’s his job to act certain ways in photos.”

“Doesn’t mean he was acting then.”

“I guess you’re right,” she sighed. “Because after we took them, he told me he liked me and asked me out.” It was kind of her to omit the disastrous flirting incident.

“So . . . what’s the problem?”

“He only started liking me when he found out I’m Ladybug! He only likes me because I’m Ladybug!”

Cat Noir shrugged. “ _I_ only like you because you’re Ladybug.”

She rolled her eyes at him. “You only _know_ me as Ladybug. You’ve only talked to me a few times as Marinette.”

He chuckled. “What I mean is, I only like you because you’re you. No matter what you call yourself. If you weren’t you, you’d be someone else, so I wouldn’t like you.” He frowned at himself. “I mean, I might like the other, non-you person as a friend or something, but I wouldn’t . . . you know . . .”

“I get it. But you don’t understand. If he only likes me as Ladybug, then maybe he doesn’t really like me. Maybe he only likes the image of me. The idea of me. You at least know me as Ladybug. Adrian only knows Ladybug about as well as you know Marinette. Not even _that_ well since you talked to Marinette and brought me to . . .” She trailed off guiltily.

The rooftop. The date he’d set up for Ladybug and she hadn’t shown up for. Which had made him want to talk to a friend. “I know. It’s okay.”

“I shouldn’t have let you open up to me then,” she said. “Knowing who you were and that you didn’t know who I was. I’m sorry.”

Cat Noir’s heart twisted with nerves and guilt of his own. “I put you in a hard position. What would you have said to get out of it?”

“I . . . don’t know.”

 _Me neither._ “So forget about it.” He smiled. “I’m glad I got to show it to you twice.”

She leaned against him.

“You think this Adrien guy only likes you because you’re famous?”

He felt her nod.

“Isn’t _he_ famous?”

“Well . . . yeah.”

“Then isn’t that kind of unlikely?”

“I don’t know. Why can’t famous people have celebrity crushes?”

 _Fair point._ “Maybe he did have a crush on Ladybug. How do you know it didn’t mean anything? How do you know it was only based on your image? There’s a lot people can know about you from your words and your actions which you’ve shown to the whole city. Don’t you think that’s enough for someone to fall in love with you?”

“But Ladybug isn’t who I really am. Not who I am walking around every day, living my life.”

“Isn’t she?”

“You don’t know me very well as Marinette, or you wouldn’t say that.”

 _Yes, I would._ “Maybe . . . you should think about it this way. What if the situations were reversed? What if he’d been someone you only thought of as a friend, and then you discovered that he had a secret second identity—as a boy you were in love with? Would you stop loving him? Or would you be happy that the boy you loved was already your friend?”

“I don’t know,” she sighed. “That’s so different from reality, I can’t even picture it. You might as well ask me, what if I were a fish?”

Cat Noir didn’t feel so bad now about not figuring out Marinette was Ladybug. He’d been so hung up on Ladybug, he’d been totally blind to what was right in front of him, no matter how many clues there were. Just as Marinette was so hung up on Adrien, she didn’t see all the clues that Cat Noir couldn’t help but drop. Was this what they meant by _love is blind_?

“I’m not being much help, am I?” he asked.

“No, this helps. Even if I still don’t know what the answer is, it helps to have someone to talk to about it. You’re a really good friend, Cat Noir.”

“Thanks, Marinette. I think you are, too.”

She looked at him in surprise, then squeezed him tight and buried her face in his shoulder.


	26. Chapter 26

Adrien had hoped that Marinette would think about their talk last night and decide to give him another chance, but it wasn’t to be. Not yet, anyway, and he had run out of time to worry about it. The school day went along as usual, with Marinette still only friendly with him (even if she also sometimes got flustered), and Nino still clearly hiding something (which no one had been able to pry for him, so they’d all given up and accepted his strange behavior). Nino didn’t ask to make plans with him for the weekend, and Adrien didn’t bring it up either. Nor did the girls make an overture. After their friendship had been growing so nicely, it hurt to have them not try to make plans, even knowing he couldn’t have said yes.

At the appointed time, Cat Noir went to the park where he’d told Nino to meet him and found his friend sitting on a bench in front of some bushes. He dropped down right in front of him, enjoying Nino’s surprise.

“Cat Noir! You came!”

“Why so shocked?”

“I . . . I’d kinda thought I might have dreamt that. Except that I still have that wig you gave me.”

“Did you bring it?”

Nino opened his bag and held it out.

“You’ll need to put it on after you transform, or it’ll get replaced by the costume. I’ve cut holes out for the ears to go through.”

“This is so surreal.”

“I know. You’ll get over it.”

“Why do I have to wear a wig?”

“Because I don’t need you to only be Cat Noir. I need you to be _me_. Understand?”

“Ahhh,” Nino said, nodding. “Got it.”

“Ladybug knows you won’t be me, but everyone else needs to think nothing is different from usual. The costume will make you mostly look like me, but the hair is a dead giveaway.” He paced in front of Nino, explaining the plan. “In a minute, I’m going to go in those bushes behind you and transform. This is very important, Nino: do not look at me. Don’t try to find out who I really am. Can I trust you?”

Nino nodded even harder. “Absolutely, Cat Noir!”

“Good. Once I’m transformed, I’ll pass you my Miraculous. My kwami, Plagg, will also go with you.”

“Your what?”

“He’s a little—You know what? You’ll see in a minute. He’s good at hiding himself, but do what you can to make sure no one sees him or finds out about him. He’ll explain what you need to know about being me. I’m not sure exactly how long I’ll be gone, so unless you’re actively fighting a supervillain, I need you to come back here, to this exact spot, every day at this time until I return. Don’t turn around. Don’t look behind you. When I come, I’ll come behind you to these bushes and say the password. The password is _Camembert_. That’s how you’ll know it’s me. Plagg will then peek out to confirm it’s me. Once he gives you the go-ahead, take off the Miraculous and—without looking—pass it back to me. Do you got all that?”

“Yes, sir!”

“Easy, Nino. _Sir_ is my father. I’m just me.” He clapped Nino on the shoulders and looked him in the eyes. “Are you ready for this, Nino?”

“Definitely!”

“Good. Take care of Ladybug for me. And, uh, try not to be too hard on any supervillains you may fight while I’m gone. They’re innocent people, remember.”

“Speaking as a former supervillain, yeah, I’ll remember.”

“Right.” Not without some reluctance, Cat Noir ducked into the bushes behind Nino. When he could see that Nino was stock-straight and eyes forward, Cat Noir whispered, “Claws in.”

Plagg popped out into the air. “Last chance. You sure about this?”

Adrien nodded. “See you soon, Plagg.”

“You’d better, kid.”

Adrien slid his Miraculous off his finger, hid it in his fist, reached over Nino’s shoulder, and opened his hand. Nino gasped and slowly took the ring, and Plagg flew between the back and seat of the bench. When Adrien heard Nino cry, “What the—” and Plagg’s frantic shushing, he crept out of the bushes and walked directly away from the new Cat Noir.

_Next step: bait an akuma._

It had occurred to Adrien that the easiest way to put himself in a horrible mood would probably involve Marinette. But whatever he did would also put _her_ in an awful mood. Which not only did he not want to do on principle, but it would also make her just as likely an akuma victim, and he couldn’t risk Hawk Moth discovering that she couldn’t be akumatized and was therefore Ladybug.

Then Adrien remembered what she’d said about his dad bringing out the supervillain in people.

As soon as he got home, he found the duplicate ring that he’d picked up earlier that day and put it on. The jeweler had done a very good job (and had been paid very well for it). The silver replica was so perfect, Adrien couldn’t find any flaw or difference in it.

He waited a little while, making sure Nino had time to get home or some other secure place and talk to Plagg. Then, around six o’clock, he went downstairs.

Gabriel had said he’d be home this evening, but Adrien was still surprised to find that he was. Still working, of course. No sense wishing for the moon.

His dad was also alone. Good. Natalie or someone else could interfere with Adrien’s plan.

Adrien shut the door and took several steps into the room, not close to his father but close enough. “Father, I have something to say to you.” He hated doing this. Hated it with every fiber of his being, almost as much as he’d have hated doing this to Marinette. His father was the only family he had left, no matter how imperfect he was. What if this didn’t work? What if it did work, but their relationship still never recovered? He might be throwing away more than he could guess.

No, not throwing away. Gambling. Betting his relationship with his father—maybe his whole future—on this plan, with the hope of winning safety from Hawk Moth for everyone close to him (or at least as much safety as everyone else in the city had) and a continued partner for Ladybug.

Then again, if this failed, if he couldn’t get Hawk Moth to akumatize him to prove he wasn’t Cat Noir, maybe the best thing would be to let Nino keep being Cat Noir indefinitely.

Maybe that would be the best thing _anyway_.

But he couldn’t give up without a fight. So here he was. Picking one.

Gabriel glanced up at him with disinterest. “What is it?”

“I don’t want to model anymore.”

“What?!” _That_ certainly got his attention.

“You heard me. I’m not your Ken doll, some toy for you to dress up and parade around.”

“How _dare_ you?” Gabriel hissed, coming around his workstation to face his son.

Adrien wasn’t nearly finished yet. “My whole life, you’ve been using me to make money. Magazine covers, fashion ads, my own cologne! Did you ever ask me if I wanted to do any of that? How many teenage boys have their own cologne brand, Father? Do you think that’s normal?”

“You insolent child! I have given you everything!”

“I don’t want everything, Father! I want a normal life! Friends and school and a girlf—” His voice choked off in a boyish whimper. Where had that come from? Why had he started going off script?

Gabriel’s fury slipped from his expression, turning into something mocking. “A girlfriend? Is this about that girl? Really, son?” It wasn’t a kind tone, the tone a father should use. It was a tone full of cruel derision. “You speak to me this way because of _girl problems_?”

“No!” Adrien shouted, hands turning into fists at his side. “This isn’t about that! This is about you taking my childhood, locking me away in here, filling my schedule with things I don’t even want to do, all so you can get rich off me!”

Anger shuttered Gabriel’s features again. “I was already rich, Adrien. I made _you_ rich. And famous. Is this how you thank me?”

“I don’t want any of that! I only want—” His voice caught. He couldn’t get Marinette’s face out of his head. He hadn’t meant to bring her into this.

“You’re fourteen, Adrien. You’ll have plenty of time for girls later.”

“It’s not that!” he insisted, knowing he was losing. He had to get the argument away from Marinette. “Do you think Mother wanted me to stay locked up like a prisoner?”

Rage so intense it was almost bloodlust flared in Gabriel’s eyes. “What?” he snarled.

“Do you really think this is what Mother would have wanted?”

Gabriel stormed toward Adrien, stopping only inches away. “I am doing this for her! All of it! How dare you speak to me of her in that way! Don’t you think I know what she would have wanted? I was her _husband_!”

Adrien stared up his father, trembling with fear. Gabriel had never hit him, but right now, it felt like there was a very real chance he might.

Adrien didn’t say anything, and gradually, Gabriel reigned in his anger and said in a low, furious tone, “As long as you live under my roof, you will do as I say. That is final.” Then he turned and went back to his work.

As soon as Gabriel’s back was turned, Adrien sprinted from the room.

That hadn’t gone as he’d expected.

Fear and sorrow and anger burned in Adrien’s gut and spilled out through his eyes. He didn’t stop running until he reached his room, when the tears flowed freely, joined by racking sobs.

He hadn’t meant to think of Marinette. He hadn’t intended to bring up his mother. He’d never wanted it to get so personal. If he’d kept it a teenage boy chafing against his father’s rule, Gabriel might have come to forgive him once this was over. But now . . .

Adrien had lost everything. He was sure of it. His father would hate him forever. He might not even want him around. He’d send him away, and Adrien would never see Marinette or Nino or his other friends again. Never be Cat Noir again.

He sat on his couch with his head in his hands and sobbed as his heart tore itself into confetti.

It went on.

And on.

Until the akuma found him.


	27. Chapter 27

“ _Midas_.”

The sound of his name burrowed into his head, waking him from . . . Had he been _crying_?

“I am Hawk Moth.”

The voice was strong and commanding, and Midas heard it as clearly as if someone were speaking directly into his ear.

“Your father uses you for his own gain, does he? I give you the power to buy your freedom by creating more wealth than any man could ever want. But first, you must get me Ladybug and Cat Noir’s Miraculouses.”

Anticipation and excitement drove out all other emotions. Midas’s face split in a wide, wicked grin. “Yes, Hawk Moth.”

Power flowed over him, issuing out of the ring on his right hand, washing him in a dark magic that was strange, but . . . there was something familiar about it. When it receded, his body hummed with strength, and his soul sung with purpose. Midas flexed the fingers of his right hand, instinctively understanding the power now held there. The power of destruction, which radiated from his very skin. This, too, somehow familiar.

But different, also.

A coffee table sat before him. Midas laid his hand flat on it and watched the surface of the table change, a wave of magic spreading out from his hand, turning the table into solid, glimmering gold.

“Yesss.” It was as Hawk Moth had said. His father wanted wealth? Midas would turn the whole _world_ to gold if it would gain him his freedom.

But first, the Miraculouses.

Midas stood, turning toward the door, idly brushing his fingertips over the couch as he went, changing it a king’s ransom in gold.

He passed a mirror—and liked what he saw. His skin was white and pure as snow. His hair was swept up like a golden crown. His eyes glittered like emeralds behind a mask made of gold leaf. His new clothing, while not bulky, echoed the opulence of the richest king Europe had ever seen. And his right hand glowed with the golden power of his magic, the dark spot of his ring the only thing marring its radiance.

In the mansion’s grand foyer, two people came to him. Names skipped near his thoughts and then flitted away. Midas did not chase them. The large man reached for him, and Midas reached to meet him. Magic spread through the man’s flesh, turning every part of his body to gold—but not his clothing. When the woman tried to flee, Midas blocked her path, and as she gaped in fear at him, he tapped a finger to her glasses. The glasses changed—frame, lens, and all—but the woman’s body remained flesh. Not a hair on her head turned to gold.

She cried out in surprise and sudden blindness, rushing to remove the useless, golden glasses. Smirking at the oddity, Midas brushed her arm, and her jacket turned to gold, trapping her arms and causing a rise in her panic. He brushed a finger over her pants, locking her legs into golden shackles. Then he left her struggling against the weight and restriction, crying out for help.

Midas went out into the city, spreading wealth and destruction. Drop by drop—a car here, a street sign there—a wave of gold spread out from the mansion. At first, people were shocked. Then the wise ones fled and the foolish ones tried to take some piece of Midas’s wealth for themselves. The foolish ones became part of his wealth, their bodies first, then their clothing, then whatever they might have been carrying on their person. It was tedious work, growing all the more tedious each time. Eventually, he settled on changing only the thieves themselves, leaving in his wake a series of golden statues dressed in cloth. Soon, the number of people putting themselves within his reach grew smaller, and he reached for larger targets. Buildings. The road itself.

Eventually, he looked up, and everything near him was beautiful, golden silence, though he could hear screams and sirens in the distance and see the backs of those still fleeing.

He had created much gold, but it was not enough, and it was taking too long. Every little thing had to be touched. He could change a bike, but he couldn’t change every bike attached the the rack at once. He could change a cart, but the horses got away. It was inefficient. He needed something big.

He stood pondering this problem when a new person appeared in front of him. She did not flee, but neither did she attempt to take any of his gold.

“That’s Ladybug!” shouted the voice of Hawk Moth. “Take her Miraculous!”

Midas moved toward the girl.

Ladybug. Familiar. Why?

“Adrien, stop!” she shouted at him, some emotion in her bluebell eyes.

 _Adrien_. Yes, that was it, the name he’d already forgotten. “I am not Adrien. I am Midas.” Adrien was a weak, powerless thing, the caterpillar to Midas’s butterfly.

_Hm. Butterfly._

“No!” she cried. “You’re Adrien Agreste! Hawk Moth’s controlling you!”

Was he? “I need your Miraculous,” Midas told her. “You are not a thief like these others. Give me your earrings, and I’ll allow you to flee.”

She shook her head sadly. “You know I can’t do that, Adrien.”

“Midas.”

A boy dressed in black appeared beside the girl. “Whoa!” he said when he met Midas’s gaze. “Dude, that’s—”

“His name’s Midas,” the girl told the boy. “Nice of you to join me, Cat Noir.”

“Uh, totally! Good to see you _again_ , Ladybug.”

Hawk Moth’s voice was exuberant in Midas’s ears, carrying also something like surprised delight. “Cat Noir! Excellent! Now, get their Miraculouses and bring them to me!”

Midas stood calmly and considered the two superheroes, rolling their names around in his head. There was something familiar about those names, and about the sad, beautiful girl and the lively boy with green cat eyes.

“Midas! What are you doing? Hurry!” Hawk Moth’s command pushed at him, but Midas bore the pressure without giving in. He _would_ get their Miraculouses, but not yet.

He turned and ran from the superheroes, telling Hawk Moth, “I need something big to turn. Big enough that it _must_ buy my freedom.” As he said it, he saw something in the distance, a huge tower pointing into the sky like an arrow. _That should do it._

“You can do that later!” Hawk Moth raged. “First, get me the Miraculouses!” With the words came a thrust of power that tightened Midas’s chest and staggered him. The weight of Hawk Moth’s control fell on him, insisting on his submission.

That weight was familiar.

Midas pushed back. Not much, only a nudge. Testing it.

Hawk Moth’s control was strong, but not as strong as he thought it was.

But there was something about that dominance, forcing Midas to do what he wished, leaving no room for argument.

“Midas!” Hawk Moth shouted. “They’re coming! Turn and fight them!”

This time, Hawk Moth’s voice rang through Midas with the familiarity of—

Inside his mind, a shard of Midas broke away into something else and gave him the information he needed.

 _Father_.

More shards of Midas fell away, becoming something else, weakening Hawk Moth’s control of him.

Midas grasped at the shards, desperate to analyze them, to read what else they had to say, but something slammed into his back and sent him flying down the street. He landed with a roll and pushed himself to his feet, turning the pavement to gold in the process.

“Ladybug,” he said, facing her.

She stood in a fighting stance, determined and strong. “This ends now, Midas.” Her eyes darted over him and lit with knowledge when they found his ring.

Even more than before, the urge to fight her simply wasn’t there. He ran, dodging between some buildings, seeking time to think.

_Father._

_Hawk Moth._

Hawk Moth was his father.

The knowledge felt important. Critical. World-shattering.

“Why are you stalling?” Hawk Moth said. “All you have to do is touch her.”

The urge to rebel against the order sent his feet into motion again, toward the tower, to—

But no. He didn’t care about making gold. About buying his freedom. The very notion seemed childish and stupid now. Midas felt the tight fist of Hawk Moth’s control inside him, knowing now that his previous goal had been imposed on him by Hawk Moth, all to serve Hawk Moth’s one and only goal of getting the Miraculouses.

Another piece of Midas fell away—a big one this time, and it spoke to him in a voice that sounded a lot like his own. _You need to stop Hawk Moth._

Yes! That was his real purpose. His only goal. It was deep and entrenched in his heart, held there far longer than Hawk Moth’s false ambition.

Even as he heard the superheroes searching for him and felt the tight pressure of Hawk Moth’s control in his chest, Midas knew only two things.

First, Hawk Moth was his father.

And second, Midas needed to destroy him, no matter the cost.


	28. Chapter 28

If Midas had known where Hawk Moth was hiding, he’d have gone straight there. But he didn’t, which meant he needed to get Hawk Moth to come to him. And he knew of only one sure way to do that.

This was better, anyway. Rather than breaking Hawk Moth’s control, he pushed against it only enough to loosen it. He’d do what Hawk Moth wanted, for now. He knew how to work within the constraints of his father’s control, acting or appearing obedient enough so his father wouldn’t notice the times he broke free.

He wasn’t sure how he knew how to do that, only that he did.

With a burst of speed and determination, Midas ran around the buildings toward Ladybug and Cat Noir, touching everything he could get his hand on as he passed. It worked to draw their attention, and the two heroes squared off with him on a wide, empty street.

“Give up, dude,” said Cat Noir, twirling his stick. “You can’t win. You’ve got to know that.”

“But I will win,” Midas told him. “I must win. For all our sakes.”

“Uh, what?” asked Cat Noir.

“Supervillains say all kinds of things,” Ladybug told her partner.— _Not her partner._ —“It never means anything. Ready, Cat Noir?”

“Absolutely!”

Midas’s enemies tensed to strike.

 _Friends_ , said a shard of him that wasn’t Midas anymore.

It didn’t matter, though. Friends or enemies, he needed what they carried to fulfill his purpose.

Cat Noir leapt toward him, stick swinging down for a strike. Midas dodged and reached for the stick, but Cat Noir pulled it away and turned it into another attack. He came at Midas furiously, holding his attention.

Distracting him.

Midas knew their plan . . . somehow.

As he fought Cat Noir with no weapon but his right hand—which Cat Noir fought hard to keep at bay—Midas watched and listened.

He spun suddenly, grabbing at Cat Noir’s stick, catching the superhero off-guard. As magic enveloped the stick, spreading from end to end in an instant, Cat Noir released it in fear.

So when Ladybug swung down at Midas from the roof above him, he had a weapon.

A flash of movement from the corner of his eye was all the warning he got—and all he needed. Her legs were out in front, meaning to kick him with both feet as she swung past, but he was too fast for her. He twisted out of her way and brought the golden stick around with a bone-shattering swing right at Ladybug’s midsection, his own strength combining with the force of her swing to knock her to the ground so hard she dented the golden pavement.

Some small, weak part of him cried out. He ignored it.

Ladybug wasn’t hurt. Not really. But he heard her gasping, the wind knocked out of her, as he stood above her with the stick. Cat Noir rushed him from behind, but Midas anticipated that too, and reached with his hand toward the bare skin of Cat Noir’s jaw.

Midas watched with curiosity, feeling . . . something? . . . as green eyes turned to gold behind the black mask and the superhero became stiff and still as a statue.

Gasping for air, Ladybug was getting to her feet, her yo-yo in hand. Midas let her, watching her try to regain herself. When she shot the yo-yo toward his head, he caught it in his right hand, the magic there absorbing all the force before spreading gold across the yo-yo and down the string.

“I have to do this,” he said, feeling for some reason as if he owed her an explanation.

“No, Midas, you don’t!”

“You don’t understand,” he said, walking slowly toward her.

She tried to get away, but she was still dazed and breathless. “Then tell me!”

With his left hand, he grabbed her by the waist, pulling her close against him. It felt good. Right. Even though she struggled. “Shh,” he whispered, putting his finger to her lips, painting them gold. “Trust me.” He held her in his arms as the lean strength and softness of her body became rigid metal.

He released her, Hawk Moth’s triumphant laughter the only sound he heard. “Excellent, Midas!” Hawk Moth cried. “Excellent! Now, take their Miraculouses!”

“Wouldn’t you rather do it yourself?” he asked. “They’re helpless. Their Miraculouses are yours for the plucking. And I might accidentally turn them to gold if I try to take them off, and then they’d be useless.”

He could practically hear Hawk Moth thinking.

“I’ll hold off any intruders until you get here,” Midas added.

“Yes,” Hawk Moth said, sounding very pleased. “I’ll be there shortly.”

No one tried to come save Ladybug and Cat Noir. Midas could see police cars and people off in the distance, but no one dared to encroach on the patch of solid gold that Midas had created during his fight with the superheroes. The world was quiet, peaceful, and glimmering in Midas’s golden oasis.

After a few minutes, he saw movement in the sky, and then Hawk Moth stood before him, suited up like he was equally ready for villainy or a board meeting. He strode to Ladybug and Cat Noir, smiling with victory, looking into their sightless eyes.

“I’m very pleased with you, Midas,” Hawk Moth said, tapping Ladybug’s leg with his cane and hearing the clink.

“Thank you, Hawk Moth,” said Midas.

Hawk Moth faced him again, close enough to embrace—not that he would. “I’m happy that it was you who finally achieved my victory. It’s right that you’re here when I claim their Miraculouses.”

“I think so, too, Father,” Midas said. In Hawk Moth’s moment of surprise, Midas pressed his right palm against Hawk Moth’s suit coat.

“What are you doing?!” Hawk Moth cried, stumbling back, unable to raise his arms.

Midas lunged forward, sweeping his hand against Hawk Moth’s pants, trapping him like he’d trapped the woman in the mansion.

Hawk Moth fell to the ground with a thunk, his mouth twisting with fury. “Release me!” he cried. “I command you!”

The force of Hawk Moth’s order was like a fist around Midas’s lungs, doubling him over. But he pushed back against the control. Fought it. Broke it.

More shards of Midas broke off inside him, and the person he thought might be called Adrien began to coalesce.

“No,” Midas said, standing over Hawk Moth. “I am not your puppet, Father.”

“Adrien?” Hawk Moth cried in shock.

Midas shook his head. “No. I am Midas. I am what you made me. But I will not allow you to control me any longer.” He knelt, his hand moving toward Hawk Moth’s face.

“Dark wings fall!” Hawk Moth shouted, and a wave of transformation magic swept over him. The mostly golden costume of Hawk Moth disappeared. Now free, Gabriel Agreste scrambled away. When he was out of Midas’s reach, he spun to face him and snarled, “Dark wings—”

But he’d forgotten how fast he had made Midas. Before Gabriel could get the last word out, Midas darted forward and grasped his father’s bare hand.

Gabriel managed to get out, “ri—” before gold washed over his head.

Midas stood in the echoing, empty silence for several long, solitary heartbeats. Then he went to the golden statue of Ladybug and placed a gentle kiss on her cold, unyielding mouth.

Her lips softened even before he stepped back from her, which he did after only a moment. A wave of magic rippled over her body, replacing gold with flesh, reviving her.

She staggered, and Midas gave her all the time she needed to finish catching her breath.

“What—what happened?” she gasped.

“I turned you into gold,” he said, “and then back.”

She spotted Cat Noir. “Why? And why didn’t you turn _him_ back?”

Midas shrugged. “I guess I could kiss him, too, but I’d rather not.”

Her eyes widened. “You—you kissed me?”

“It was the only way to change you back,” he explained.

Her fingers ghosted over her lips. “Kissed . . .”

“I’ve done it,” he said, eager to tell her that he’d accomplished his goal. It didn’t really feel accomplished until he shared it with her.

But that didn’t make any sense.

“Done wh—” She saw golden Gabriel on the ground, and her breath caught.

“I’ve vanquished him.”

“But, Adrien, that’s your dad!”

“Yes. He was.” Midas was pleased. He could see she was as surprised to find out who Hawk Moth was as he would have expected. “But I’m not Adrien.”

“No.” She turned on him, her face and voice growing hard for some reason he couldn’t pinpoint. “You’re not. No matter how difficult their relationship, Adrien wouldn’t turn his father into an inanimate object.” She bent down and picked up her golden yo-yo—and then before Midas could figure out what she was doing, she leapt at him and smashed the yo-yo against his face, leaping back an instant later.

As he watched the yo-yo return to normal, Midas thought he understood. When she palmed it, he knew that she didn’t. “Ladybug, what are you doing? I’ve saved you. I’ve saved everyone.”

“Saved everyone by turning people into gold? Nice try, Midas. I’ve heard that kind of nonsense from supervillains before. You’re all the same.”

“But I’m not.”

She punched him in the face. He stumbled, but avoided her next hit. She kept coming at him, so he circled, trying to keep away from her. It wasn’t easy.

“Ladybug, that’s not what I meant!” Why wasn’t he fighting her? He didn’t understand.

“I’m sick of you, Midas! I want my friend back!”

She was so fierce, so brave.

 _Don’t fight her_ , said that other part of him, which seemed bigger than ever. _You’re not a good guy, Midas. You’re a supervillian. She’s the hero. Let her win._

And why not? He’d accomplished his only purpose already. He didn’t know what else he could do.

Midas didn’t think he’d always been evil, but he had a vague awareness now that he was. Or maybe he _had_ always been evil, and it was only now that he no longer wanted to be.

“Lucky Charm!” Ladybug cried, and a pair of pliers fell into her hand. She looked at them in confusion, then at him, and her expression grew so intent that he was certain she was about to destroy him.

Midas stood calmly, waiting for her to bring his end. Ladybug pounced on him, tackling him to the ground. She moved like she expected him to struggle, but he didn’t. She sat on his chest, grabbed his right forearm, and yanked his hand into the air. The pliers came down, and he felt the ring pulled from his finger. Then she was off of him, the now golden pliers coming down to smash against the dark ring. It broke, and a black butterfly fluttered out.

A wave of transformation magic swept over him, and Midas ceased to be.


	29. Chapter 29

Adrien came to his senses sitting in the middle of the street, without any memory of how he’d gotten there from his bedroom. “Wha-what happened?”

A hand clad in black-spotted red came into his view, and he looked up to see Ladybug. “You got akumatized,” she said.

Adrien gasped. It had worked? He didn’t remember _anything_. But if it had worked, had it _worked_?

He spotted the decoy ring on the pavement beside him and put it on. “Then I guess I have you to thank for bringing me back.”

Ladybug helped him to his feet. “Me and Cat Noir,” she said, nodding to a guy wearing Cat Noir’s costume.

Adrien beamed at him. Nino had done it. Good for him. Though it was pretty weird to see someone else wearing Adrien’s suit. Now he know how Ladybug had felt. “Well, thanks you to, too, Cat Noir.”

“No problem, bud—uh, dude!”

Ladybug leaned over to Cat Noir and whispered, “You should get going.”

 _Before anyone takes too close a look you_ , Adrien thought in amusement.

“Right. Cat Noir away!” Nino shouted, leaping off with the aid of his stick.

There wasn’t any crowd immediately nearby, so it didn’t take long for Adrien to spot the third person present. “Father?”

Gabriel was dusting himself off. When Adrien approached, he jerked away like he was afraid of Adrien touching him.

The last memory Adrien had before waking up here sobered him. He’d picked a fight with his father. He’d said things he’d never meant to say.

“It’s okay, Mr. Agreste,” Ladybug said, standing next to Adrien. “Adrien couldn’t help anything he did while he was Midas.”

 _Midas?_ He’d definitely need to get a run-down on what had happened when he could.

Gabriel’s mood didn’t improve, so Ladybug went on. “He was under Hawk Moth’s control. Don’t you remember when that happened to you?”

Gabriel didn’t pull away again, but he still didn’t look very happy. He leveled a piercing gaze at Adrien. “Do you remember anything?”

Adrien shook his head. “No, Father. I was in my room, and then the next thing I knew, I was here.”

Gabriel’s face relaxed, and he let out a small, relieved breath. “That’s for the best.”

_Was he worried about me?_

“Why were you out here, anyway?” Ladybug asked.

The question startled Gabriel, but he recovered quickly. “When I saw him—that is, Midas—take out you and Cat Noir, I thought I’d try to see if I could talk him down. Obviously, I failed.”

 _Take out?_ Adrien’s heart leapt into his throat. And . . . his father had faced a supervillain to try to help him?

“That was very brave of you, Mr. Agreste,” Ladybug said, “but next time, you should stay inside. Akuma victims can’t be talked down. I’ve tried.”

“There won’t be a next time,” Gabriel said.

“Hopefully, no,” said Ladybug. “Although just because the same person hadn’t been akumatized twice _yet_ —other than Ivan, and that was the same akuma—that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s impossible.” She gave him a stern finger-point. “And you have a habit of causing emotional distress in the people around you, so you should probably watch your back.”

Gabriel gave Ladybug such a dirty look, his lip actually curled. “Your unsolicited advice is noted.”

Ladybug’s Miraculous beeped. “Ah! I’d better go.”

Angling so that his father couldn’t see him, Adrien mouthed _Later_ to her.

She gave a stiff nod in return and left.

“Come along, Adrien,” Gabriel said, already walking away.

Adrien’s father didn’t yell at him on the way home, but he didn’t talk to him either.

When they got home, Natalie and his bodyguard were there. Neither of them said anything, but Natalie met Adrien’s eyes and gave him a sympathetic nod, which he returned.

His personal chef had prepared dinner for him and left it outside his room at some point, so he took it in to eat while he checked the Ladyblog. Once again, Alya was on the ball. She’d gotten some pretty good video of Ladybug and Cat Noir—not good enough to be able to tell that he wasn’t the usual Cat Noir, though, thankfully. When it came to getting shots of the villain—i.e. _him_ —she’d been smart and kept a good distance. But the video showed enough to see swaths of street paved in gold and even Midas himself from a distance. Chills ran up Adrien’s spine when the video zoomed in to catch a quick close-up. Then he watched himself turn a hapless bystander into a golden statue with as much emotion in his face as a person considering whether or not to get a haircut. The fight moved down the street too quickly for Alya to keep up, and the video ended before the fight did.

After night fell, Ladybug swung in through his window. Despite the evening he’d had, he couldn’t help grinning. “Thanks again for saving me. I’ve been catching up on what happened.”

She didn’t stop to chat. As soon as her feet hit the floor, she walked over and hugged him.

He enjoyed it for a few seconds, but when she didn’t let go, he patted her back and said, “Hey, it’s okay.”

She stepped back. “Sorry.”

“I’m okay now.”

“It almost wasn’t.”

“What do you mean?”

“You—Midas—after he turned Cat Noir into a statue, he got me, too.”

Adrien blinked, then shook his head as if that could make her words make sense. “What do you mean I got you too?”

“You turned me into a statue.”

“But . . . then how did you save me and fix everything?”

“I don’t know why, but you—he . . . changed me back. With . . . a kiss.”

“A what?!” So now that was _two_ times he’d kissed her and couldn’t remember it? Brilliant.

“I was a statue, so I didn’t know what was happening, and you obviously weren’t yourself and can’t remember it, so we should probably pretend it never happened, but . . . even when you were a villain controlled by Hawk Moth, when you had the chance to take my Miraculous, you didn’t. Instead, you brought me back to life.” Nervousness briefly gave way to cockiness. “So I could beat you up and capture your akuma.”

Adrien’s fingers moved to brush against hers. “Does that mean you believe I love you?”

With a carefully casual movement, she pulled her hand away. “I . . . believe you love Ladybug.”

He let out a sigh so soft he barely heard it. “That’s a start.”

Ladybug backed away from him, toward the window. “I’m glad you’re okay, Adrien,” she said, and left before he could respond.

He slept in on Saturday. Then he thought about calling her but didn’t want to seem pushy. The possibility of crossing his father’s path still made his stomach clench, but by that afternoon no summons or decrees had been issued, and he thought his dad might be either stewing or cooling off. Or too busy with work to be distracted by his anger at his son.

At four p.m., Adrien arrived at the park, relieved to find Nino sitting at the bench, waiting for him.

And then he felt bad for having doubted he might show up.

True to his word, Nino sat staring straight ahead. Adrien looked to make sure no one was watching, then came up behind him. When he crouched into the bushes, he saw Nino stiffen.

“Camembert,” Adrien whispered.

Plagg zipped out and bumped Adrien on the cheek, hard enough that it could have been intended as a greeting, a smack, or both. “It’s him!” Plagg called to Nino.

Nino’s head twitched to one side, but he forced it forward again. “You’re back! Aw, man, already?”

Adrien held out his hand over Nino’s shoulder and made a _gimme_ gesture with it. A second later, he felt warm metal. He pulled his hand back and slid the Miraculous onto his finger. Once it was safely in place, Adrien took a deep, satisfied breath. “Plagg, claws out.”

As soon as he was transformed, Cat Noir strolled around the bench and took a seat beside Nino. “The trip took less time than I thought it might. How did it go?”

Nino turned to him, full of excitement. “There was a supervillain attack, and it was really messed up because the villain was my best bud Adrien, and I did have to help Ladybug fight him, but . . .” His excitement waned. “I didn’t do a very good job.”

“What do you mean? Ladybug caught the akuma, didn’t she?”

“Yeah, but I wasn’t much help. I got turned into a statue before I even got to use my Cataclysm. Ladybug had to finish defeating the villain all by herself.”

Cat Noir leaned close. “I’ll let you in on a little secret, Nino. That happens to me a lot, too.”

“Really?”

“Being Cat Noir’s a cinch. Being Ladybug—now _that’s_ responsibility.”

Nino took the blond wig out of his bag and offered it.

“Nah, why don’t you keep that,” said Cat Noir. “In case you need it again.”

Delighted, Nino stuffed it back into his bag. “Definitely! Any time, dude!”


	30. Chapter 30

Cat Noir shouldn’t have been happy that someone had gotten akumatized, but he couldn’t help it. He was. Because it was someone he didn’t know or have any connection to, and it had happened a good two miles away from where he was or anyplace he regularly went.

His crazy plan had worked. Hawk Moth no longer suspected the truth about who Cat Noir really was.

That did mean it took him a little longer to get to the rampage site, though. As he ran and pole vaulted through the city, he spotted Ladybug and caught up to run alongside her. “Nice day for a battle, eh, LB?”

Neither of them stopped running, but Ladybug spared a moment to shoot him a look of surprise. “Cat Noir! It’s, uh, you!”

“In the fur. I heard you had a _golden_ opportunity to meet my stand-in. I hope he didn’t freeze up.”

“Oh, was that your replacement? I didn’t notice.”

“Me-ouch.”

She laughed. “He was pretty good, but he was no . . . uh . . .”—she laughed again—“whoever you are under there.”

“Say the word, Milady, and the mystery shall be revealed.”

“No thanks, Kitty. You know girls like a man of mystery.”

“So you admit you like me.”

“Of course,” she said in a teasing tone that said nothing about her meaning.

This villain was a runner, and they ended up at the top of the Eiffel Tower by the time they were able to defeat him. Ladybug’s magic restored order, and they left the akuma victim on the observation platform, where he’d be able to make his way to the ground safely.

“A pleasure as always, Milady,” Cat Noir said, offering his partner a genteel bow. His ring beeped.

“You’d better hurry, Cat Noir. You’ve only got one spot left.”

He checked to see that she was right. “Yikes!” This was cutting it close. He jumped over the guardrail into a controlled fall down the side of the tower.

When he was still fifty feet in the air, he changed back. Suddenly, his fall wasn’t so controlled anymore. A scream ripped from his throat. His arms and legs flailed. “Plagg, claws out! Claws out!” But Plagg was falling next to him, practically unconscious, worn out from the Cataclysm he’d used earlier.

He heard a whistle in the air a moment before something caught him and he was no longer falling down but sideways. A solid, slender arm was wrapped around his waist, and he frantically wrapped his own arms around her shoulders. “Ladybug, you saved me!”

She was so focused on getting them to the ground safely that she wasn’t looking at him. “Cats may land on their feet, but boys go splat. Try to remember that next time.”

They landed, and the ground under his feet had never felt so solid. “I’ve really fallen for you now, Milady,” he said, retrieving Plagg from where the kwami lay draped over Ladybug’s shoulder.

“Adrien?” Ladybug’s voice was breathy and incredulous. Her mouth hung open like a trout.

Adrien realized that he stood in front of her in his regular clothes, holding his kwami, and there really was no plausible deniability left. He grinned like a cat caught with his paw in the fishbowl. “Uh, hi, Ladybug.”

“Adrien?!” she screeched, and this time it sounded angry and insulted.

He glanced around, but there was no one nearby. Fortunately, the villain fight must have convinced the bystanders to get to safer ground. “Heh. Yeah.” He rubbed his neck. “It’s me.”

Her Miraculous beeped, but she ignored it. “Y-you’re Cat Noir?!”

“Yeah.”

“You’re not another replacement, are you?”

“No, Ladybug. I’m the original.”

Her face paled, and her hands flew to her cheeks. She turned away from him, pacing. “Adrien is Cat Noir. Adrien is Cat Noir. Cat Noir is Adrien.”

Not exactly the exultant joy he’d hoped she’d feel when she found out. “You’re angry at me, aren’t you?”

Her face snapped toward him, not looking angry so much as horrified. “You—I—flirting—kiss—we—”

He hoped the stammering was a good sign. “Do you need a minute with this?”

“How are you Cat Noir?!” she shouted at him.

“Someone gave me a Miraculous,” he said, confused. “Same way you’re Ladybug.”

“But—you’ve been Cat Noir— _the whole time_?” She’d gone into a squeaky octave.

“Ever since that first time you fell into me and we got tangled up in your string.”

A blush bloomed across her face at the memory. “Why didn’t you tell me?!” she practically screamed.

That took him aback. “What do you mean? You kept telling me you didn’t want to know!”

“Argh! That was when I thought you were a stranger! I would have wanted to know if I’d known it was the boy I was madly in love with!”

“How was I supposed to know that? Wait, _madly in love with_?”

She let out another howl of frustration, then whipped her yo-yo out and shot it into the air. Before she could get away, her time ran out and she changed back into Marinette. Which earned another howl.

“Marinette, go easy on him,” said a tired Tikki.

Marinette turned on her. “You knew about this?”

“Of course. I’ve known Adrien was Cat Noir for a while.”

“And you didn’t tell me?” Marinette sounded hurt.

“It was too dangerous for you to know each other’s identities, no matter what your feelings for each other were. What makes it any different that he was Adrien than it would be if he were someone else?”

“I—I—” Marinette stammered, but Adrien could see her thinking about it. Her anger leaked out like air from a balloon. “You’re right, Tikki. It always would have been dangerous.”

“It still is,” Tikki said. “But you both know now, and there’s nothing you can do about that except make the best of it.”

Adrien put a hand on Marinette’s shoulder. “It’s all right, Marinette. Even if it’s more dangerous, I’m glad we both know.”

She looked up at him with nervous blue eyes. “You are?”

“Of course I am. Because it means the girl I love, my partner, my best friend, the girl I’ve been trying my hardest to win over for ages”—he grinned—“was already madly in love with me.”

She blushed and smacked him lightly on the chest. “ _I_ was the other girl you talked about?”

He nodded. “And I was the other boy. The one you rejected me for.”

She laughed with him at the irony. “No wonder you were so happy for me.” Panic suddenly contorted her face. “Oh, no. I gushed over those photos to you. I’m such a spaz.” She covered her face in shame.

He stepped closer and rubbed his head against hers affectionately. “I wasn’t much better, was I, Bugaboo?” His reminder pulled a giggle out of her. “Can you blame me? I’d just found out the girl I’m in love with is in love with me.” He leaned back to see her smiling shyly. “You can’t believe how hard it was not to tell you. But you kept insisting you didn’t want to know.”

“I’m so stupid.”

“No. You’re brilliant.”

A shadow passed over her face, and she stepped back.

 _Oh, no. Not this time._ He took her hand and pulled her back to him. “Do you really still believe I don’t love you? All of you? Whatever you call yourself?”

“But it’s not just—”

“When I put on your Miraculous and became Ladybug, did I become you? Or was I still me?”

She frowned, thinking. “No, I . . . I guess you were still you.”

“And was Nino the same Cat Noir as I am?”

“That was Nino?” she asked in surprise.

“Heh, whoops.” And after all that teasing he’d done to make sure Nino wouldn’t crack. “Yeah. That was Nino.”

She nodded. “I should have guessed.” Then she added, “Rena Rouge is Alya.”

“I thought she might be. Not that I guessed it at the time. Only the other day, when we were talking about it at lunch and she kind of acted weird, after I knew about you being Ladybug. But back to my question. Did Nino turn into me when he put on my Miraculous?”

She thought about it a little longer this time, but not like she was trying to decide. “No . . .” she admitted.

“You said you don’t think I’m the superhero type. Now that you know I’m Cat Noir, do you . . . think less of me?”

“What? No!”

“Are you sure? All the things about Cat Noir that made you uninterested in him romantically are still part of me. Remember when I tried to flirt with you in school?”

Her face colored. “Oh my gosh. That was so bad.” She shook her head. “That should have been a dead giveaway, but it was just so . . . _out of character_ for you.”

“That’s kind of what I’m saying. It _is_ . . . and it _isn’t_. I don’t become a different person when I become Cat Noir, I just show different sides of myself. Are you going to like Adrien less if he starts making puns and flirting badly with you?”

“Of course not. Though if talking about himself in third person becomes a regular thing . . .”

He laughed. “Marinette, I love you. Whether you’re a regular girl or a superhero. Even if you became a supervillain, I’ll still love you.”

Realization dawned in her eyes. “You were akumatized. That’s the real reason you needed a replacement. But—but how did you know?”

 _Ah_. He let out breath, glad to be able to tell her. “I don’t know how, but I’m pretty sure Hawk Moth had begun to suspect my real identity. When Natalie got akumatized, she went straight for my ring. I was so surprised, she actually took it and ran off before I could stop her.”

“What?!”

“That’s why I was missing most of the fight. I was trying to get it back while staying out of sight. Sorry about leaving you to fight her alone.” He gave her a sorry-not-sorry grin. “Please don’t neuter me.”

She giggled back, embarrassed but unrepentant.

“So I decided I needed to find a way to convince him he was wrong about my identity, or he wouldn’t stop coming after me.” He explained his plan to her as he’d explained it to Tikki. “When I came over to your house with the model release—which was totally real, by the way; that wasn’t only an excuse—I talked to Tikki, wanting to make sure she was aware of what I was doing, since I couldn’t tell you without revealing my identity.”

“And you agreed with it?” Marinette asked her kwami.

Tikki shook her head. “No, but I couldn’t think of a better plan before you came back into the room.”

“I needed someone I could trust with my Miraculous. A boy, because he needed to look enough like me to fool people.”

Marinette nodded. “So you picked your best friend. I understand. That’s what I did when my Lucky Charm hinted that we needed backup with the Sapotis.”

“Nino’s my best _guy_ friend, Marinette, but you’re my best _friend_. It’s okay if you don’t feel the same way. But I want you to know.” That information seemed to please her but also make her uncomfortable, so he moved past it. “Once I gave the Miraculous to Nino, all I had to do was find a way to lure in an akuma.”

“What happened?”

This was hard to talk about. “I . . . picked a fight with my father. I said some things I didn’t mean. He got angry, and . . . well, obviously it worked. I’m sorry you had to fight me, though. I couldn’t think of any other way.”

She took both his hands in hers and squeezed them. “I’m so sorry, Adrien. I’m sorry you had to do that, and that you had to go through it alone. How are things with your dad now?”

“He hasn’t spoken to me since it happened. I don’t know if he’ll get over it in time or if he’s already planning to send me off to some boarding school to get me out of his sight.”

Marinette gasped. “Send you away? He can’t do that! I’ve just found you! Um, I mean, that is—”

“I know what you mean,” he said, squeezing her hands back.

A familiar look of determination slammed down onto her features. “We need to fix this?”

“What do you mean?”

“This thing between you and your father. We need to fix it right now!”

“Marinette, I appreciate the thought, but you don’t know my—”

“No arguing!” She clutched one of his hands in a death grip and used it to drag him away.

She didn’t release it until they were standing in the atrium of his house, where his father stood working. And even then, it was only so she could shove Adrien forward.

Gabriel barely looked up from his work to take in the two of them. “What is it? I’m busy.”

“Um, Father, I . . .” Adrien fiddled with his hands. “I wanted to apologize for the other day. The argument. I didn’t mean any of it. You were right, I—” He cast a glance behind him, to Marinette. She gave him an encouraging thumbs-up. “I was in a bad mood because of, uh, some things between Marinette and me.”

He could hear Marinette’s squeak of surprise. Gabriel’s gaze slid to her.

“It wasn’t her fault,” Adrien hastened to say. “It was just miscommunications and . . . complications. And it made me stupid, and I lashed out, and I’m really, really sorry.”

Finally breaking away from his work, Gabriel came to stand before them. “And these problems. Are they resolved?”

“Yes, Father.”

“Good.” Then, to Adrien’s shock, Gabriel’s expression softened into a very small smile, though not really a happy one. “Love can make men do strange things. Things we never would have thought ourselves capable of.”

“Does that mean you forgive me?”

“Yes, son. I forgive you.”

Had it really been that easy? Adrien beamed with joy, turning to share it with Marinette, only to find her still looking wrong-footed. “Thank you, Father. We’ll let you get back to work.”

Marinette started to follow him out, but after Adrien got through the doorway, he heard his father say, “Marinette,” and she paused. His father’s next words were softer, and Adrien didn’t want to stick his head back in and pry, but he could still hear Gabriel tell her, “He’s like his mother. Full of emotion. Be careful with him.” It could have sounded like a warning that Adrien might be dangerous to her, but it didn’t. It sounded like a warning not to drop an expensive vase.

Adrien was kind of touched that his father would say that . . . and kind of offended by it.

Their kwamis still needed to recharge, so Adrien and Marinette stopped in the kitchen for some food. Even though no one else appeared to be around, it wouldn’t be smart to let their kwamis out to eat right there, so Adrien led Marinette back to his room.

They sat on the couch, Plagg and Tikki snacking happily on the coffee table.

Adrien glanced at Marinette, their eyes met, and both looked away nervously. He’d been making progress on her in their conversation earlier, but they’d gotten sidetracked. They kept almost speaking and shifting awkwardly for several minutes before Adrien finally said, “Marinette, will you be my girlfriend?”

She started, looking back at him with wide eyes and a big smile. “It’s happening . . .” Her voice sounded like air being let out of a balloon. He waited, but she couldn’t seem to get past that thought.

_Uh-oh, she’s stuck in a feedback loop._

Adrien chuckled. “Here, maybe this will make it easier. Plagg, claws out.” Plagg, who had eaten plenty by then, got sucked into his ring, and he transformed. He gave Marinette his best Cat Noir grin. “How about it, Milady? You know we’re meant for each other.”

That snapped her out of it, though her eyes stayed huge. She leaned close.

To kiss him?!

Nope.

“Do that again,” she breathed.

“Uh . . . what?”

“Go back.”

He wasn’t entirely sure what she was talking about, but he shrugged and said, “Claws in.” He changed back into Adrien.

“Whoa,” said Marinette. “Do it again.”

“O . . . kay. Claws out.”

“Again.”

“Claws in.”

“Again.”

“Claws out.”

“I cannot get over this.” She waved at him to proceed. “One more time.”

“Claws in.”

Plagg flopped onto the coffee table. “Lady, are you kidding me with this?”

“Sorry.” Marinette finally appeared to realize what she’d been doing. “It’s just so weird. I can’t get my head around Adrien being Cat Noir.”

Adrien reached across the cushion and took her hand. “You’ll have plenty of time to get used to it. I’m not going anywhere.”

She didn’t pull her hand away this time. “Good.”

“I love you, Marinette.”

“I know.”

“You do?”

“Yeah. I love you, too, Kitty. And I’d love to be your girlfriend.”

Joy filled him. “Can I kiss you?”

She nodded.

He leaned in and brought his mouth to hers, reveling in the tenderness and the warmth that blazed through his heart. Finally. _Finally_. They were together.

When the kiss ended, they moved closer, snuggling on the couch with their arms around each other. His eyes drifted closed in contentment. He felt so happy and peaceful. It was . . . almost perfect.

“Plagg,” he said, “claws out.” He transformed without ever changing position.

Marinette looked up at him in confusion. “Why did you do that?”

“So I could do _this_ ,” he said, welcoming the loud purr that rumbled through his chest.

Marinette giggled and snuggled closer.


	31. Chapter 31

On Monday morning, Adrien asked his bodyguard to drop him off at the bakery instead of the school. Marinette’s mom was busy with customers, but she took time to greet him warmly enough that not only was Adrien pretty sure Marinette had told her they were dating now but he would not have been surprised if she were already planning their wedding and thinking of name suggestions for her future grandchildren.

 _Grandchildren?_ The thought startled Adrien. _Marinette and me having kids?_ But then he let the thought settle in and decided he rather liked it. He’d always been fond of kids and had kind of assumed he’d have some of his own some day, but hadn’t really mentally connected it with the girl he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. But now he smushed the two ideas together and it made both of them even better.

“Are you ready?”

Marinette’s voice beside him made him jump. “What? Yeah, I’ve been waiting.”

“Really? ’Cause you were kinda spaced out with this look like a cat sitting in sunlight.”

He felt a blush creep into his cheeks. _One step at a time, Adrien. Let’s get through high school first._ He _alllll_ most whispered to her what he’d been thinking of, just to see her reaction, but it was still too hard to let the flirty Cat Noir part of himself out when he wasn’t wearing a mask. So he held out his hand for her. “Shall we, Milady?”

When they strolled into the courtyard at school, he felt Marinette stiffen, her hand clenching in his.

“What’s wrong, Marinette?”

“Everyone’s staring.”

“No, they’re not.”

“Yes, they are,” she said through gritted teeth.

Adrien glanced around. He didn’t really know what _everyone’s staring_ meant to a normal person, but he did seem to have attracted more eyes than usual this morning. “They’re probably wondering if they’re in for another episode of _Adrien tries to court Marinette like a walrus trying to bake a souffle_.”

“Like a huh?”

“Clumsily.”

“Wait, _court_?”

“I stand by my verbiage.”

She narrowed her eyes at something. “Everyone’s got magazines.”

He heard a shrill voice shout, “Adrikins!” and then Chloe was wrapped around him with her face uncomfortably close to his. “People are spreading vicious rumors about you, and you need to set them straight this instant!”

Adrien released Marinette’s hand only so he could use both of his to pry Chloe off. “What rumor’s that, Chloe?”

“That you’re in _love_ with Marinette!”

“But . . . that’s true. I already told you I like her.”

“I _like_ munchkin cats, but that doesn’t mean I’m _in love_ with them—or that I don’t know they’re freaks of nature.”

Adrien frowned, but Marinette beat him to it.

“Give up, Chloe. You lost.”

 _Lost?_ Had there been some competition he wasn’t aware of?

“No!” Chloe pointed a finger at her. “ _You_ forfeit! You rejected him, remember? Game over!”

“That’s not really how love works, Chloe,” Adrien pointed out.

Chloe gasped. “You mean it’s _true_? You’re in _love_ with her?”

“Yes,” said Adrien. How had everyone figured that out? They couldn’t have gotten all that from him and Marinette holding hands.

“ _And_ ,” Marinette said, stepping forcefully into Chloe’s personal space, “I’m his girlfriend now. Do you know what that means?”

Chloe raised a derisive eyebrow at her. “What?”

“It means that the next time you climb all over him or try to kiss him, you get to deal with me.” Marinette smiled evilly as if daring Chloe to try.

 _Ahhh_. Marinette had some jealousy in her. Not that Adrien hadn’t had a bout or two of his own. Still, he didn’t like to see them fighting. He was about to step in when Chloe huffed and walked away.

As soon as she was gone, Alya and Nino appeared. Alya pulled Marinette into a hug. “Congrats, girl! I knew you could do it.”

Nino offered Adrien a high five. “Yeah, way to go, dude!”

Adrien slapped it. “Um, thanks? What did we do?”

“You’re a couple!” Alya said. “Marinette’s been after you for, like _ever_.”

“Forever, huh?” Adrien’s eyes slid to Marinette’s. “As I remember it, I loved her first.”

“What? Marinette’s loved you since, like, the day you met.”

“Not until the end of the day, though,” said Adrien. “I was in love with her by lunchtime.”

“Huh?” said Alya. Nino appeared to share her confusion.

Marinette shrugged. “Actually, I have to give him that one.”

“I don’t understand how everyone already knows, though,” said Adrien.

“Yeah,” said Marinette. “We came in together holding hands, but everyone was already staring at us from the first second like they knew.”

“You haven’t seen?” said Nino.

“Check it out, girl!” Alya held up a magazine.

Marinette gasped and grabbed it. “What the heck?”

On the cover of the magazine was a photo of Adrien and Marinette—the last one they’d taken, with him holding from her behind, which put Marinette’s face front and center as the central part of the image. Adrien wasn’t sure how he felt about the photo being used to sell magazines. It looked like such a private, personal moment, and it kind of had been. “I did tell you the release you signed would let them use any of the photos for whatever they wanted.”

“But the cover?!” she squeaked.

“Don’t be shy, girl! It’s a great photo.”

“It is,” Adrien agreed.

More of their friends came over and congratulated them.

“But how did you all know?” Marinette asked. “It’s just a photo.”

“No,” said Alya. “It’s love. Real love. It practically oozes off the page.” Which was probably the exact reason the magazine editor had chosen it.

Marinette looked to Adrien for help, and he shrugged. “What did I tell you? I wasn’t acting.” He flipped through the magazine to see the rest of the spread. The photo his father had originally chosen was in there, along with a bunch of other photos from the shoot.

“Can you guys autograph my copy?” asked Rose, and everyone else around them echoed her.

Adrien didn’t really like signing autographs, but these were his friends, and this was a special occasion. Besides, Marinette still looked kind of overwhelmed by the whole thing, so he took out a pen and showed her how it was done.

Just as they were finishing with the last magazine, darkness swept in and day turned to night. A thunderous voice overhead laughed maniacally.

Adrien handed the magazine back to Juleka and whispered to Marinette, “That’s our cue.”

They tried to sneak away without drawing notice, but Alya said, “Where are you two running off to?”

Adrien tried to think of a good excuse, but Marinette didn’t bother with pesky thinking, so she got her answer out first. “We’re going to, uh, smushy face. I mean, kiss out. I mean—wait—”

“Marinette!” he hissed.

“I mean _the opposite of_ _that_!” she overcorrected. “I’m gonna go beat him up! Really smack him around!”

“Ugh.” Adrien facepalmed, grabbed her hand, and dragged her away while their friends laughed despite the looming darkness. “Next time, maybe you should let me do the talking.”

They battled Skywalker high up in the air, and when it was over, they ended up tangled in Ladybug’s yo-yo after she’d used it to break their fall. As they’d plummeted toward the ground—right back toward the school courtyard, as it happened—she’d made a web across the open roof to catch them. But the force of their fall had been so much that whatever was holding the string to the roof broke, and they were stopped by the web only to fall to the ground a second later with the confused yo-yo string wrapped around them. They’d won, though, and neither of them were hurt, so it was all good.

The kids had gone into the classrooms to hide before anyone saw this happen, which was also good.

They lay on the ground, tied up together face to face with her on top of him. Cat Noir grinned and waggled his eyebrows. Ladybug rolled her eyes and twitched the hand holding her yo-yo. It zipped back, unwinding them instantly, but Cat Noir wrapped his arms around Ladybug, keeping her where she was.

“A kiss for the road, Milady?”

“As if. You’re way too clingy.”

He squeezed her tighter. “Kiss me and I’ll let you go.”

“All right,” she said in a lying lilt. “Let me go first.”

He pouted. “What if you run?”

“I might. That’s a risk you’ll have to take.”

“No risk at all, Milady. You wouldn’t run for long.”

“I wouldn’t, would I? Why’s that?”

“You know why.” He nuzzled her nose with his, and she let out a tiny giggle. “You can’t resist me.”

“So sure of yourself, are you?”

“You need me.”

“I’ll knee you _somewhere_.”

“You idolize me.”

“You’re not that great.”

“I bet you’ve already named our children.” There. It came so easily now.

Her cheeks flushed, making his heart pick up speed. “I have not.”

“I have you eating out of the palm of my hand.”

“Ohh, you’re gonna pay for that one, furball.”

“I have no doubt you’ll _lick_ me good. I’m sure _I_ ’ll _scream_ for mercy.”

She laughed and pushed against him for the first time since he’d wrapped his arms around her, so he let go and they got to their feet.

His Miraculous beeped first.

“We should get back,” she said.

“What about my kiss?” he mewed.

She shook her head. “Such a needy kitty.” But she pulled him down and gave him a quick kiss on the mouth.

“No way,” someone whispered, and they both turned to see Alya hiding where neither of them had noticed her, the camera of her phone pointed at them.

“Oh, uh, hi.” Cat Noir gave her a wave.

“Are you two a couple now?” Alya asked with unbridled excitement.

Ladybug winked at her. “What do you think?” Her Miraculous beeped. “Gotta go.” Her yo-yo flew out, and she leapt away.

Cat Noir shrugged at Alya and made his own escape, careful to go a different direction than Ladybug.

It was tricky getting back to class without drawing suspicion after they’d been seen leaving together. They’d definitely need to work on their technique. Luckily, class took a little while to start up after the attack so near them, and Adrien and Marinette walked into the classroom before Alya even arrived. Everyone was still milling around, so Adrien almost didn’t notice Alya grab Nino and drag him out into the hall.

“What was that about?” Adrien asked him when they came back in.

“What?” Nino asked, shifty-eyed. “You get to sneak off with your girlfriend but I can’t sneak off with mine?”

 _Your girlfriend._ Man, that sounded good.

As soon as they broke for lunch, Alya grabbed Marinette’s shoulder and said, “Why don’t we all go to Marinette’s for lunch? You’re all right with that, aren’t you, Marinette?”

“Uh, sure.”

“Sounds good,” agreed Nino. “Adrien and I would love to join you.”

He would? Well, he _would_ , but usually people _asked_.

Marinette’s parents were still busy in the bakery, so the friends made their way to her kitchen and fixed themselves some sandwiches. As they sat at the table eating, Alya said, “So, I want to show you guys this really _enlightening_ video I got.”

Adrien felt his neck heat up at the thought of viewing with his friends what Alya had caught on video when he and Ladybug hadn’t known they were being watched. “Enlightening?” he asked.

“You’ll see.”

A quick glance at Marinette told him this was as embarrassing for her as it was for him, but they agreed amiably and arranged themselves to watch the video on Alya’s phone. When it was over, Adrien felt even hotter. “That . . . doesn’t look like something you should put on the blog,” he said.

“Yeah,” Marinette agreed. “That looked like kind of a private moment. Even superheroes deserve some privacy, don’t they?”

“I don’t intend to put this one on the blog,” Alya said. “And I hope you realize what a sacrifice that is. My views would explode.”

“You could probably clip out that last part,” Adrien suggested. “You know, the kiss and the confirmation that they’re together.”

Alya perked up. “You think?”

Marinette nodded in relief. “Yeah. That part looked okay.”

Alya grinned. “Good to know. But I’m not done here. Let’s take a look at another video.”

Confused as to what this was all about, Adrien watched as Alya started playing another video. He hadn’t seen it before, but he recognized it immediately as the video she’d gotten of him and Marinette and the ice cream incident.

_Oh, no._

His heart tried to jump out of his body. He met Marinette’s eyes and saw as much panic in hers.

The video ran all the way to the end.

“Now,” said Alya, “let’s go back to today’s video.”

They watched it again. Then, without a word, Alya and Nino turned to Adrien and Marinette with expectant expressions.

Marinette was frozen, moving only enough to look at Adrien.

_Oh sure, now she decides to let me do the talking._

But the jig was clearly up. Adrien let out a breath. “Yes.”

“Woo-hoo!” shouted Alya. “This is awesome!”

“Keep it down!” Marinette urged, nodding toward downstairs.

“I can’t believe my best bud is Cat Noir!” Nino whisper-shouted. “Though that does explain why you picked me to be your backup.”

“His what?” Alya asked.

“Uh, should I not have said that?”

Adrien waved it off. “You know about Marinette and me, and you’re both backup superheroes already, I guess we may as well get on the same page.”

Nino shot his girlfriend a questioning look.

She pointed at herself, grinning proudly. “Rena Rouge.”

Surprise flashed across his face, then he nodded in understanding. “Ahh. That checks out.”

Alya tugged at Marinette’s arm. “Come on, girl, this is the coolest thing ever! You have to tell us everything!”

“We can’t tell you _everything_ ,” Marinette said.

“Before we say anything more, maybe we should go to Marinette’s room,” Adrien suggested. “For a little extra privacy.”

They all hurried up there, and Adrien was gratified to see that she’d returned the photos of him to her walls, now including some of the two of them together.

“Where should we start?” Adrien asked.

“They should probably meet our kwamis,” said Marinette. “Tikki and Plagg will know better what we should and shouldn’t tell them.”

“Totally!” Alya was bouncing in her seat on the chaise longue. “But first, you have to show us!”

“Yeah, dude!” Nino agreed. “Show us!”

Adrien held his hand out to Marinette. “Want to?”

“No reason not to, since they’ve figured it out.”

“What about the danger?”

“They already know. Like Tikki said before, all we can do now is make the best of it.”

That brought a smile to Adrien’s face. Having friends he could trust with his secret, to share his secret with and rely on to keep it and help out when needed. And Marinette by his side. _The best of it_ was right.

Marinette took Adrien’s hand, and together they transformed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! If you'd like to keep an e-book copy of this fic, you can download one from my website: https://www.shawnacanon.com/fanfic
> 
> If you'd like to be updated if I post a new fanfic, you can follow me here at AO3. If you're interested in my original stories, you can sign up for my new release newsletter on the home page of my website.


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